After long deliberations, the Little Giraffe Foundation voted to fund 4 projects for 2012, totaling $12,000 – 2 Neonatal Research Grants to forward medical care for premature babies and 2 NICU Support Grants designed to improve the lives of the families and babies in the NICU.

2012 NICU Support Grants

Forrest General Hospital, Hattiesberg, MS - $1,000 Awarded

The Forrest General Hospital CARING Pantry

The Forrest General Hospital (FGH) NICU needs resources to assist the parents of the children in their NICU. FGH services 19 rural counties. Many of the parents of their NICU children have low income and limited resources. In the past, FGH staff has fed these families with their own funds because of their committed compassion. They will be starting a formal food pantry designated for the NICU families. The pantry would be called the CARING Pantry. The CARING Pantry will have vouchers to the hospital cafeteria and healthy snacks such as soup, peanut butter crackers, applesauce, granola bars, trail mix, and fruit cups.

DCH Foundation, Tuscaloosa, AL - $1,000 Awarded

Helping NICU Families Bond with their Babies

DCH Regional Medical center's NICU volumes average l6 babies daily. Many of the babies are from the 11-county service area, in predominately rural west Alabama, where parents may not have the monetary resources to visit their babies daily, or even weekly. A permanent fund has been established at the DCH Foundation to assist parents with transportation to visit their babies. Approximately one to three families receive assistance monthly, averaging a cost of $75 - $ 100 per month. Due to current funding limitations, distributions from this fund provide parents an $ 18 gas card for weekly visits with their baby. There are also parents who may need assistance that are not currently receiving assistance.

The DCH Foundation will be using their funds to assist in purchasing additional gas cards. It is their hope that the funds will allow them to offer more than one visit per week to parents who truly need to bond with their babies and also offer assistance to more families.