Family Connection receives $29,118 grant from United Way of the Midlands
June 24, 2013
COLUMBIA, SC – June 24, 2013 – Family Connection of South Carolina (FCSC), a nonprofit organization that provides support to families with children with special health care needs, has received a $29,118 grant from United Way of the Midlands to support Project Breathe Easy.
Project Breathe Easy (PBE) is an award-winning program that provides emotional and informational support to parents who have children with asthma. The primary goal of PBE is to provide parent-to-parent support and to empower the parent to be the child’s best advocate. Through visits, educational tools, environmental assessments, mattress and pillow encasements and parent support, PBE reduces asthma related hospitalizations and emergency room visits by 73% and results in fewer missed school days for kids and fewer missed work days for parents.
“Project Breathe Easy is here to support parents’ efforts to manage their child’s asthma,” said Michelle Drayton, PBE program coordinator. “Without the United Way of the Midlands’ financial support, this would not be possible. This grant allows us to continue to provide families with the information they need and in turn leads to better health care for thousands of children in South Carolina who have asthma.”
This is the fourth year that FCSC has received a grant from United Way of the Midlands to support PBE. Last year alone, more than 400 families received support and asthma education thanks in large part to this contribution.
PBE provides free and confidential support from a parent who has a child with asthma, a free asthma notebook that explains how to handle asthma on a daily basis and encouragement and ongoing education about asthma management.
United Way of the Midlands works to identify and respond to the critical human service needs of Calhoun, Fairfield, Lexington, Newberry, Orangeburg and Richland counties. Funds are raised through workplace campaigns, grant writing and individual donations. For more information, please visit www.uway.org.
About the organization
Family Connection of South Carolina is a nonprofit organization that provides support, information and resources to families and professionals who care for children of all ages with special healthcare needs, disabilities or chronic illnesses. The organization was founded in 1989 by a group of South Carolina parents who have children with disabilities and special needs with the mission to strengthen and encourage families through parent support. Family Connection is the S.C. chapter of Family Voices and the S.C. Maternal and Child Health Bureau Family-to-Family Health Information and Education Center (F2F). For more information, find us on Facebook and visit www.FamilyConnectionSC.org.
