Photo by Derek Redd Debbie Stanton, program director for the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley, greets representatives from 21 Ohio Valley organizations who shared more than $150,000 in grant funds from the River Valley Health Fund.

WHEELING — Both Debbie Stanton, program officer for the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley, and Shelly Carenbauer, board member for the River Valley Health Fund, admitted that they sometimes wiped tears from their eyes as they researched the proposals for this year’s RVHF grants. They were overcome with emotion reading about the need of so many in the Ohio Valley and the programs trying to help them.

Yet any tears Wednesday morning at Orchard Park Children’s Hospital were those of joy.

The CFOV and RVHF passed out grants totaling more than $150,000 to organizations up and down the Ohio Valley for programs geared to help health projects for the entire spectrum of those in need, from the smallest children to the valley’s senior citizens.

Twenty-one organizations shared in the grant funds, receiving as much as $20,000 to enhance their services.

“The goal of everything here today, I think, was to uplift everyone in the Ohio Valley,” Stanton said, “and make them productive members and citizens. Today was a good day.”

The $20,000 grant was awarded to the Ohio Valley Youth Network for use at its Sycamore Youth Center in Steubenville. The center provides a wide array of afterschool programs for students in the Steubenville area, from theater to orchestra to cooking to entrepreneurship.

Center Director Bobbyjon Bauman said the grant awarded Wednesday will be used for various needs throughout the center – the 100 meals they provide to children each day, the gas for the center’s vehicles and the art supplies that will allow them to stretch their imaginations.

Earning that grant offered a breath of relief, Bauman said.

“We know the money’s going to be there for the food for the kids,” he said. “We know it’ll be there to pay for the gas. If we have a problem with the van, we can fix it so we can pick the kids up. There’s a myriad of needs that are going to be taken care of through that grant fund.”

The other organizations and their projects were:

– Appalachian Outreach, Inc., $7,500 for Take it Easy Ohio Valley

– Barnesville Hospital Association, Inc., $5,962 for emergency medical training equipment

– Belmont County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division Probation Department, $7,500 for healthy supports for Belmont County probation youth

– Brooke Hancock Family Resource Network – Northern Panhandle Parents as Teachers, $7,500 for Wellness at Every Level WV

– Catholic Charities West Virginia, $5,000 for its Hospital Transition Program

– Children’s Home of Wheeling, Inc., $10,000 for Hope and Healing: Advancing Psychiatric Services for Children and Teens

– Crittenton Foundation, Inc., $2,997.33 for Mobile Health Support: Caring for Young Girls, Mothers, and Babies in Residential Treatment

– Easterseals Rehabilitation Center, $10,000 for medical care, outpatient medical rehabilitation and autism screening for vulnerable children

– Faith in Action Caregivers, Inc., $5,000 for its Volunteer Match Program

– Jefferson County, $4,900 for its General Health District and a lead testing machine

– Marietta Health Foundation, $3,380 for emergency battery power for the Woodsfield Health Clinic

– Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church, $5,500 for its Third Thursday Soup Lunch

– Ohio Valley Health Center, $10,000 for an echocardiogram machine

– Reynolds Memorial Hospital, $10,000 for its Samaritan Fund Project

– Seeing Hand Association, Inc., $3,000 for education and outreach through Edelman Garden

– Thoburn United Methodist Church and the St. Clairsville Council of Churches Food Pantry, $4,300 for a food pantry blessing box

– United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley and House of the Carpenter, $5,000 for their Nourish To Flourish Ohio County Schools Backpack Program

– Urban Mission Ministries, Inc., $7,500 for healthy food for all

– YWCA Wheeling, $8.700 for its Health and Wellness project

– Youth Services System, Inc., $6,500 for expanded school mental health

“It’s very rewarding as a board member and very rewarding as a community member to know that these people exist and these projects exist,” Carenbauer said, “knowing the impact that they make and how much they’re willing to put out for their communities and recognize what’s most needed in their communities.”