The Salina Regional Health Foundation’s Community Health Investment Program awarded three grants at its February committee meeting for a total of $62,950.

Funding for the grants primarily comes from Salina Regional Health Center, which tithes a percentage of its operating margin each year to the Salina Regional Health Foundation. Additional funding has come from the Salina Regional Service Auxiliary.

Funding priorities for this specific grant primarily focus on children’s health and getting a healthy start in life, preventing medication misuse and preventing falls among the elderly.

Grants in February included:

• $37,950 to the School Marathon Foundation for its School Marathon Program held each fall at
  Salina’s 11 elementary schools. Over the course of six weeks students jog the equivalent of a
  marathon, or 26.2 miles, learning how to set and achieve goals and the benefits of exercise.
• $20,000 to Child Advocacy and Parenting Services (CAPS) to fund education programming on
  sexual abuse for children pre-kindergarten through second grade and bullying prevention
  education for children in the third through sixth grades.
• $5,000 to Rolling Hills Zoo for Dream Night, which provides a free night at the zoo for area
  children with terminal or chronic illness or disability and their immediate families.