Three area nonprofit organizations, Lower Cape Fear Hospice & LifeCareCenter, the YWCA and WHQR, have received grants in support of their operations.

Lower Cape Fear Hospice was given a $5,000 grant from Four County Electric to support its Healing Arts Program, according to a news release from the Wilmington-based hospice organization.

Healing Arts therapy is primarily used for patients to help accept an advanced illness diagnosis and for bereavement services. 

The grant will provide "much-needed funding" for Healing Art therapies for patients from Bladen, Pender, Columbus, Sampson and Duplin counties who are served at one of LCFH & LCC’s in-patient hospice care centers, the release stated, adding that grant funds will be used primarily to contract licensed Healing Arts practitioners.

The grant will also help LCFH & LCC "continue to provide palliative medical care and supportive services necessary to answer the physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of patients and their families during the final stages of advanced illness and during bereavement," the release stated.

Burgaw-based Four County Electric provides energy services to residents of Bladen, Duplin, Pender and Sampson counties.
 
YWCA Lower Cape Fear announced it has received a $5,000 grant from the Corning Incorporated Foundation. These funds will support the YWCA’s “What’s Wrong With Different?” racial justice program for third grade students in New Hanover County Schools, according to a news release from the YWCA.

The program was developed by the YWCA Lower Cape Fear as a hands-on approach to teach students to value, appreciate and respect the differences between people, rather than to view a person who is different as inferior. The YWCA has partnered with New Hanover County Schools to present the program to students since 2007, the release stated. 

Thanks to the Corning Incorporated Foundation, the YWCA is able to provide the program to New Hanover County Schools free of charge, according to the release, which stated, "Teachers and school counselors celebrate this program as they acknowledge it is an important conversation to have, but do not always feel comfortable leading it themselves.” 
 
“Thanks to the Corning Incorporated Foundation, we are able to continue this valuable program to our community and hope to expand our reach to other non-profits and age appropriate entities,” YWCA executive director Susan Fennell said in the release.

The Corning Incorporated Foundation directs the majority of its resources toward initiatives which improve the quality of life in and near communities where Corning Incorporated is an active corporate citizen, the release stated. 
 
WHQR 91.3 FM has been awarded a grant of $2,000 from the New Hanover County Community Foundation, according to a news release from the Wilmington-based NPR station.
 
The grant will be used for WHQR’s “emPowering Our Future” campaign, a multi-phase strategic plan for developing WHQR Public Radio, according to the release.

“It will serve to strengthen program services, engage the community in everything the station does, build a sustainable organization, and unleash the power of technology to benefit WHQR’s audience and the community,” the release stated.

“The New Hanover County Community Foundation is so pleased to support WHQR, our area’s public radio station. We hope this grant will enable the station to thrive and continue providing quality radio to all our residents,” Ned Barclay, a New Hanover County Community Foundation board member, said in the release.

The New Hanover County Community Foundation is an affiliate of the N.C. Community Foundation (NCCF).