Community Hospice announced this week they were awarded a $100,000 grant from the New York Life Foundation. Community Hospice was one of 20 bereavement service providers that received the funding as part of an effort to help expand grief support services to diverse and disadvantaged youth across the country.

“We are pleased to receive this support, which will help us provide more bereavement services to underserved children in the Central Valley,” said DeSha McLeod, Community Hospice President and Chief Executive Officer. “We will use the funding to help raise awareness about childhood bereavement in our community and to provide resources to diverse and disadvantaged youth and their families who are struggling with the loss of a loved one.”

The New York Life Foundation partnered with The National Alliance of Grieving Children to identify deserving bereavement providers.

The New York Life Foundation has given Grief Reach grants totaling more than $2 million since the launch of the program in 2011 and more than $20 million to camps, resources, service providers, and public awareness in the childhood bereavement field since 2008, when the issue became one of its primary focus areas.

Inspired by New York Life’s tradition of service and humanity, the New York Life Foundation has, since its founding in 1979, provided nearly $185 million in charitable contributions to national and local nonprofit organizations. Through its focus on “Nurturing the Children,” the Foundation supports programs that benefit young people, particularly in the areas of educational enhancement and childhood bereavement. The Foundation also encourages and facilitates the community involvement of employees, agents, and retirees of New York Life through its Volunteers for Good program. To learn more, visit www.newyorklifefoundation.org.

Serving the Central Valley since 1979, Community Hospice provides compassionate care, comfort and support to terminally ill patients and their families, regardless of ability to pay. Care extends to over 240 patients every day in private homes, skilled nursing facilities and at the 16-room Alexander Cohen Hospice House. Community Hospice also provides bereavement and grief support to anyone in the community. For more information call (209) 578-6300 or visit www.hospiceheart.org.