SEMO NASV receives grant for $100,000

The SEMO Network Against Sexual Violence opened a $100,000 birthday present recently.

The Missouri Foundation for Health announced Tuesday it had awarded the grant to NASV, which celebrates its 10th year of existence Sept. 22. Six organizations in Southeast Missouri received grants, including NASV and Saint Francis Medical Center.

But perhaps none of the grants meant more to the organization than the one to NASV. The current operating budget for the local network is $600,000, according to the NASV executive director Tammy Gwaltney.

She said the network received word a couple of weeks ago that it had received the grant and has already received its first check.

"What it's doing is letting us breathe a sigh of relief," Gwaltney said. "Many of our programs are underfunded, and we're always trying to make up for that with fund-raisers. It's just a total blessing."

Gwaltney said much of the grant will go toward the network's forensic program, which serves about 600 individuals each year. It will also help fund the "green bear" program, which is an outreach and educational program that goes into schools to highlight prevention.

According to its Web site, the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence was formed in 1997 to address "the unmet needs of child and adult victims of sexual violence." That first year, the network helped 42 people. Since then, it has provided care to more than 3,000 victims. It has a staff of 12 people.

Bev Pfeifer-Harms, the director of communications for the foundation, said the grant is for basic needs. This type of funding only goes to organizations with budgets of $10 million or less, she said.

"It's for day-to-day operational support," she said. She said this is the second grant the Missouri Foundation for Health has given to the local NASV. In 2005, the foundation awarded a three-year, $221,144 grant for a "Hope and Healing through Health care" program, which gives routine medical evaluations and exams for children who are victims of sexual abuse. That grant expires next June, Pfeifer-Harms said.

Saint Francis received a $199,735 grant to "provide tobacco prevention and cessation classes," according to a news release issued by the Missouri Foundation for Health. The grant is part of the Tobacco Prevention & Cessation Initiative, a program aimed a squashing tobacco use in schools and workplaces.

Statewide, the foundation distributed $6.1 million in grants, including $728,695 to Southeast Missouri organizations. In addition to Saint Francis and NASV, the grants are:

• $53,305 to the Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center in Farmington for smoking cessation and education programs to more than 700 employees.
• $315,595 to the St. Francois County Health Center in Park Hills for dental exams and sealants for 5,000 underserved children in Madison and St. Francois counties.
• $36,920 to Church Army of the Leadbelt in Park Hills for treatment and support to individuals with addictive disorders.
• $23,140 to the Parkland Pregnancy Resource Center in Farmington for prenatal and parenting education and services.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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