MSHF grants nearly $1.8M

WASILLA — Organizations that work to improve health and lifestyles of Mat-Su residents are nearly $1.8 million closer to achieving their goals thanks to the Mat-Su Health Foundation.

As part owner of Mat-Su Regional Medical Center and responsible for seating half its board, MSHF has distributed millions in grant funds and other health-related initiatives over the past decade, executive director Elizabeth Ripley said. This past week, the nonprofit arm of the Valley’s largest medical facility announced more than $1.77 million in the second disbursement of its annual Healthy Impact grant awards.

Topping the list are several longtime nonprofits, including Mat-Su Health Services Inc., which was granted $540,000 to put toward the eventual building of a new facility, and $500,000 to Mat-Su Services for Children and Adults.

The announcement has staff and administrators at Mat-Su Health Services “bubbling with enthusiasm,” CEO Kevin Munson said. “My perspective as a longtime Valley resident and longtime human services provider is I can remember the days when there was no local resource like (MSHF) available. The amount of meaningful differences the foundation has made has just been amazing.”

Munson said his organization, which began serving the Valley’s residents with developmental disabilities 26 years ago, will put the grant toward an effort to build a new facility. When it started in 1985, Mat-Su Health Services had two staff members and served 20 families. Today, it employs 150 people and helps 1,500 families.

A new facility has been on the wish list for a number of years, but now seems more attainable, Munson said.

“We don’t have property yet,” he said. “As a matter of fact, we’re probably going to use the award money to purchase land.”

Almost as important as the grant is what it will do to help secure other sources of funding, he said. Showing there is significant local buy-in for a project is something other grantors like to see.

“It helps leverage more funding,” he said. “That’s what really makes these projects go. Once others see there’s this kind of local buy-in, that can be helpful with a number of other funders.”

Along with pursuing its mission of improving the health of Valley residents, that’s an important role the foundation takes seriously, Ripley said. The foundation also researches the potential impacts to and needs of the community when making its awards.

The $1,778,095 granted for the third and fourth quarters of 2011 was made from more than $11.6 million in requests. Including the year’s first Healthy Impact grants awarded earlier, $400,000 for Target Wellness grants, scholarships and $975,000 in strategic initiatives, MSHF’s 2011 giving will come close to last year’s mark of $4.2 million.

Strategic initiatives are sparked by grant requests that may be expanded upon, consolidated or reorganized, Ripley said.

“We’ve identified issues that have come to the fore, like the trails,” she said. “There are about 14 different trails organizations in the (Mat-Su) Borough that were coming to us individually. So, our Trails and Parks Initiative arose from that, and out of that came the need to create a Mat-Su Trail and Parks Foundation.”

That effort received $100,000 from the foundation and matching funding from the borough.

HEALTHY IMPACT AWARDS

The Mat-Su Health Foundation has announced the recipients of its Healthy Impact grants for the third and fourth quarters of 2011. They are:

• Alaska State Fair Inc. — $100,000.

• Family Centered Services of Alaska — $100,000.

• Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired — $138,095.

• Covenant House — $150,000.

• Southcentral Foundation — $250,000.

• Mat-Su Services for Children and Adults — $500,000.

• Mat-Su Health Services Inc. — $540,000.