Methodist Village Senior Living was awarded a grant for $8,000.00 to fund the cost of adding a lift upfit including transport and delivery for their new transport van that was recently purchased to transport residents to and from doctors’ appointments and other life enrichment activities.

There are many Medicaid residents who require transportation to doctor and specialist appointments, as well as rehabilitation residents who need to be seen post-operatively for follow-ups.

Melissa Curry, President and CEO and Katee Jones, Business Development Director are happy to receive the check and sign the letter of agreement.

Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas received a $4,000.00 grant to help establish a Safety and Health Education Access for their Fort Smith location at Burnham Woods.  These funds will provide 6 stocked metal first aid cabinets, and AED unit and assist with Adult and Pediatric First Aid use certificates.

Pictured left to right: Shelby-Allison Hibbs, GS Fund Development Director,  Mitzy Little, United Way and Degen Foundation Vice Chair, Katie Vansell, GS Community Programs Specialist, Kayla Thompson, GS STEAM Center Manager, and Miel Partain, GS Volunteer Experience Specialist.

The Fort Smith Boys Home was awarded an $8,000.00 grant to help establish The Degen Foundation Medical Suite for the Fort Smith Boy’s Home Addition Two.

The home is a Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) that provides trauma-informed behavioral health and case management services to children in foster care in a family-like setting. The current home houses twelve children, and staff are forced to turn away about two children a week – every week – due to lack of capacity. 

For this reason, the board has invested $1.5 million to purchase a second building to double the capacity. This location will serve children from both houses to have access to the suite for care, treatment and education. 

Treatment for minor issues in-house would allow for earlier detection of emerging medical concerns. The Degen Foundation is proud to assist with this project.

Pictured left to right: Rebecca Ameis, Degen Foundation, Director of Grants & Scholarships; Mitzy Little, United Way & Degen Board Vice Chair;  Eddie Donovan, FS Boys Home Executive Director; Tom Webb, Degen Foundation Executive Director; Jessica Strawser, FS Boys Home Compliance Director; James Ball, FS Boys Home

The Arkansas Colleges of Health Education is a supported organization of The Degen Foundation. They received a grant in the amount of $602,836.00 to provide debt forgiveness of loans provided to ACHE to assist in the establishment of the Residency Program at Mercy Hospital Fort Smith.

To date, The Degen Foundation has given over $3.3 million dollars in support of ACHE such as: AED defibrillators, build out of the ARCOM Research Suite, class gifts for each cohort of DO, OT and PT students; research equipment for the Research Institute; assistance in building the Celebration Garden including the Degen Pavilion; and helped to establish the ACHE Scholarship Endowment.  We are proud to be a supporting organization to ACHE.