For Chicago’s WITS tutoring program, the real benefit of a Humana Foundation grant isn’t just the money, it’s the message.

In 2003, WITS (Working in the Schools) received a $100,000 Humana Communities Benefit grant to support the organization’s work matching volunteer tutors with struggling students in 27 Chicago-area public schools.

WITS Executive Director Brenda Palm said that, in addition to the money, “Humana activated their workforce to come out and volunteer in WITS programs. Establishing that partnership served as a tremendous launch pad that allowed us to go to our other members of the corporate community and say, ‘Humana has done this, they’re in a leadership role when it comes to helping our students. Join them. Join us.’”

Among the ongoing WITS initiatives the Humana Foundation grant helped fund:

Power Lunch: WITS sends a yellow school bus to the entrance of a corporate partner’s building, picks up volunteers and takes them to a designated elementary school. Each volunteer works with the same student throughout the year, primarily focusing on reading skills, but also, as Palm said, “To be another positive adult voice in that child’s life. So many of these kids need that.”

Workplace Mentoring: Students in fourth to sixth grade ride a school bus to the offices of a corporate or community partner. Students get help at their tutors’ desks or in a conference room. For some kids, it’s their first time visiting downtown Chicago, riding in an elevator or seeing Lake Michigan. “They’re also, for the first time, sitting at a big fancy conference table and imagining themselves working for one of these corporations,” Palm said. “Teachers tell us kids often act a little more mature, a little more professionally in the classroom after these visits.”

The rewards of the tutor-student relationship work both ways. “I hear from a lot of WITS volunteers that they’re not sure if the student is getting more out of the relationship or if the volunteer is,” Palm said. “That’s the foundation that this organization is built on.”

Ten years after the Humana Communities Benefit grant helped bolster that foundation, WITS’ budget has more than doubled, and the organization now has 48 business and community partners and serves 2,500 students.

“So much of the success we’ve had with our corporate partners we trace back to that initial investment from Humana,” Palm said. “To have a company like Humana say, ‘We believe in the WITS model, we believe in this program, we’ve seen the impact and we’re going to help take WITS to the next level,’  - it’s been invaluable.”

Related links:

• Watch a video about WITS above or by clicking here.
• To learn more about WITS or to find information about volunteering, click here.
• Humana grant helps promote “Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Communities”
•  Humana grant helps provide A Safe Place for those who need it most
• The Humana Communities Benefit program has awarded more than $1 million to charitable organizations since its inception in Chicago in 2002. In 2012, the program provided grant assistance in Arizona, Austin, Chicago, Greater Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, Nashville and New Orleans.

A New York Cares volunteer clears debris after Hurricane Sandy. (Photo courtesy of New York Cares)

It has been more than two months since Hurricane Sandy battered the East Coast, but thousands are still struggling to cope with the devastating aftermath of the superstorm. It will take many more months – and even years – for those who were in its path to complete the monumental task of rebuilding their communities and their lives.

The Humana Foundation, which has a history of providing disaster relief to neighbors near and far, will continue to support the rebuilding efforts by providing a new gift of $100,000 to two East Coast nonprofits, New York Cares and City Harvest. This contribution is in addition to the Humana Foundation’s previous pledge to match up to $200,000 in employee charitable gifts to aid recovery efforts.

“We believe the meaningful work carried out by New York Cares and City Harvest is critical to helping those impacted by Superstorm Sandy regain their sense of security and get back on their feet,” said Virginia Kelly Judd, Executive Director of the Humana Foundation. “These outstanding nonprofits are providing support and services to thousands in need.”

New York Cares is offering support to more than 50,000 residents of Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and lower Manhattan by providing water, meals and toiletries; clearing debris from damaged homes and streets; and expanding its ongoing health, education and revitalization programming at agencies and schools throughout the communities impacted by Sandy.

City Harvest has already provided more than 1.6 million pounds of food to Sandy victims. It is extending its hurricane relief efforts and plans to deliver 51 additional trailer loads of pre-packed grocery food boxes to hurricane relief sites and emergency food providers.

Related articles:

• Humana Foundation Pledges Matching Donations to Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts
• SeniorBridge: Compassion and commitment during Hurricane Sandy

Clean sheets. Air conditioning. The safety of a locked door. And some dignity.

Those are among the things a $100,000 Humana Communities Benefit grant has helped the Chicago-area nonprofit A Safe Place provide to women and children who are fleeing domestic abuse.

“We are so grateful to Humana for the grant and for giving us the opportunity to offer a higher level of support to the women and children who come to us for help,” said Noelle Moore, director of development for A Safe Place, based in Zion, Illinois. In October 2011, Humana announced that A Safe Place had been chosen from more than 130 applicants to receive the Humana Communities Benefit-Chicago grant.

A Safe Place operates 40 apartments that provide transitional and supportive housing to women and families, some of whom come to the facility directly from a violent home.

“One of the things we’ve been able to do with the Humana grant is purchase new furnishings for the apartments,” Moore said, “so that we can give the families dignified spaces that reflect the respect that we have for these women who’ve made a really difficult decision in leaving a violent relationship.”

Among the women and children who’ve received help at A Safe Place is “Ruth,” who came to the facility at the age of 80. Ruth needed a place to stay after leaving her husband; he had locked her in chains and kept her prisoner in their basement.

“Often, we think of domestic violence as something that happens to the young, which it does,” said A Safe Place executive director Pat Davenport, “but it happens across all ages and social classes, and at A Safe Place, we have to be ready to help anyone who comes to us looking for help.” Improvements to the apartments where clients stay was a priority, Davenport said, because domestic abuse survivors often feel a lack of control over their lives and circumstances. “Staying in your own apartment where you can feel safe, and also where you can control something as basic as the heat and air conditioning is a tremendous comfort to them.”

In the same building as the apartments, A Safe Place offers and individual and family counseling services, including art therapy, which can be particularly helpful for children.

“The kids often haven’t known anything but violence at home, and we work with them to talk about their feelings and a lot of time that comes out in their play and in their art,” said Moore.

A Safe Place serves about 2,500 clients a year, and its services include educational outreach, a courthouse advocacy program and a 24-hour domestic violence help line: (847) 249-4450.

Related links

• Watch this video (Note: Some of the photos shown in this video are for illustration purposes only and are not actual clients of A Safe Place. In order to protect the identity of domestic violence victims, real names are not used.)
• To learn more about A Safe Place, to volunteer or donate, go to www.asafeplaceforhelp.org.
• The Humana Communities Benefit program has awarded more than $1 million to charitable organizations since its inception in Chicago in 2002. The program now provides grant assistance in Arizona, Austin, Greater Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, Nashville and New Orleans.

Yvonne and Stephen Edwards were happy to be part of creating their new community resource.

“There have been times when this neighborhood was labeled as hopeless…this is hope realized,” said Yvonne Edwards, as she watched the final pieces go into place on a new playground at the Parkland Boys & Girls Club in Louisville, Ky. “It’s simply awesome. People with diverse lives – different ages, genders, culture, those from this community, from around Louisville and beyond – brought it all together.”

Yvonne, her husband, Stephen, and 300 other volunteers from the Parkland neighborhood, Humana and KaBOOM! gathered in an empty field on the morning of Oct. 16. By 3 p.m. that same afternoon, this diverse group of individuals had worked together as one team to create a unique community playground, garden and amphitheater.

“We are doing this for the children, but we all benefit,” said Stephen Edwards. “They will see what can be done. When an event touches our children, it touches our future.”

The Louisville playground is one of a growing number of play spaces that Humana, The Humana Foundation and KaBOOM! are building across the country. As part of a three-year alliance that extends a partnership formed in 2011, more than 50 playgrounds will be built across the United States over a four-year time frame.

The Parkland playground was the first to be built in Louisville and the first to be sponsored by The Humana Foundation. The Humana Foundation’s Remy Shu said the Parkland site was chosen after the Foundation presented a $25,000 grant to the Boys & Girls Club on behalf of Humana’s IMPACT African-American Network Resource Group. At that time, Shu said, the Foundation realized that the children in the area had no safe place to play. The Boys & Club itself was reopened only a month ago. The Foundation wanted to provide a community resource, such as the new intergenerational space, that could be used by children and adults to enhance their well-being, reconnect and build memories.

Current and former community members were happy to take part in creating something that they saw as a building block to a better future for a once-vibrant neighborhood that has fallen on tough economic times and has been the site of recent violence.

“I grew up around here, and used to come to this Boys & Girls Club, “said 44-year-old Rod Holt, a Humana associate and member of the IMPACT group who volunteered to help built the playground. “Used to play touch football right here. Facilities like this club and this playground will help give the kids who are growing up here now the opportunity to have a place to go where they can find an alternative to violence.”

Many of the children in the neighborhood showed their support for the project by participating in the Aug. 15 Design Day, where they worked together on a wish list and laid out their vision of what the perfect playground might look like. On Friday, Oct. 19, they will see how the ideas they drew on a piece of paper have become reality when the playground is officially opened during a community celebration at the club.

Related Videos and Articles

• In this video, the residents of the desert community of Thermal, Calif., who named their playground Mirage, explain what it means to them and how it helps build hope for healthier, happier days ahead.
• “Humana leaves a legacy in Charlotte, Tampa”: Humana and KaBOOM! built multigenerational playgrounds in the two host cities for the 2012 political conventions.

Participants in design day in Louisville display their sketches.

Dozens of children, their parents and other adult volunteers gathered at the Parkland Boys & Girls Club in Louisville, Ky., on Aug. 15 to compile a wish list for their own one-of-a-kind multigenerational playground and community garden that will be built on Oct. 16.

When a playground is being planned, who better to turn to for inspiration and design advice than children because as one of these “experts at play” pointed out, “We’re kids – we are better at it and have better ideas.” The enthusiasm for the task was evident as several participants such as Matteo Johnson, Jaquay Rodgers Jr.. Joshua Eddings, Javin Johnson, Na’Kiya Hall, and Darius Calloway, Jr., displayed their individual designs, which included typical playground equipment such as slides and monkey bars to water fountains, a rock-climbing wall and a trampoline.

The playgrounds are part of a continuing partnership between Humana, The Humana Foundation, and the nonprofit organization KaBOOM!, to create neighborhood legacies that promote healthy play and well-being. More than 50 playgrounds will be built by Humana and KaBOOM! across the U.S. over four years. Each playground has senior and adult-focused elements, such as fitness stations to promote good posture, balance and flexibility, as well as traditional kid-friendly equipment and areas where families can gather for picnics and reunions.

“We’re excited to be here today to be part of creating a safe place within walking distance for the children to play or families to gather,” said Jennifer Helgeson, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kentuckiana. “This is an investment in the community and an incredible opportunity to create an outdoor space that is open to everyone of all ages – young and old – and encourages them to be active, have fun, enjoy the outdoors and gather as family and a community. It will be a place to create memories.”

Kenny Altenburg, of KaBOOM, led the design-day activities, and even though he said he has been involved with 40 playground builds around the country, he never fails to be inspired on the day of the build when he sees the excitement and pride of those in the community as they watch the ideas they put on paper become reality.

“People tell me that they’ve never been part of something like this and that they are meeting neighbors for the first time,” he said. “It is more than building a playground. It’s building pride in a community and a neighborhood. We’re all in this together.”

Related Videos and Articles

• Volunteers from Humana, KaBOOM! and the local community team up to build a multigenerational playground in Metairie, La.
• In this video, the residents of the desert community of Thermal, Calif., who named their playground Mirage, explain what it means to them and how it helps build hope for healthier, happier days ahead.
• This playground in Sanford, Fla., gives Midway Safe Harbor Community Center, a new way to actively demonstrate the benefits of an active lifestyle.
• This AARP  blog, “The Shape of Things to Come: Adult Playground,” discusses the many benefits of the multigenerational playgrounds.

Mike McCallister and Bill Clinton watch the action at the 2012 Humana Challenge.

The 2012 Humana Challenge, in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, was named “Sports Event of the Year” at the fifth-annual Sports Business Awards in New York on Wednesday, May 23.

“Winning “Sports Event of the Year” is an unbelievable honor for the Humana Challenge,” said Mike McCallister, Humana Chairman and CEO. “It really speaks to the commitment of our partners and the Coachella Valley community in making this event successful. We were also proud that spectators, fans and viewers rallied around our dream of helping people achieve lifelong well-being that we and the Clinton Foundation worked to emphasize throughout the tournament. We’re humbled by the success of the event and will continue to instill healthy activities throughout the years to come.”

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Pictured from left to right: Jan Hawkins, Director of Development, Boys and Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley; Jim Ducatte, CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley; Virginia Kelly Judd, Executive Director of The Humana Foundation; Mike McCallister, Chairman and CEO of Humana; Terri Bona, Director of Development, Family YMCA of the Desert; Quinton Egson, Chief Professional Officer, Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley; Kristy Franklin, board member, Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley; City of LaQuinta council person

With the PGA TOUR season in full swing, the Humana Challenge golf tournament continues to make a big impact on the Coachella Valley in California, the location of the January tournament.

On Friday, April 20, Desert Classic Charities (DCC) and Humana hosted a charitable funds distribution-day event. During the program, 40 Coachella Valley not-for-profit organizations were awarded more than $2 million in charitable donations in categories like structured programs for children; rehab, social and support services; and food and shelter for the hungry, the homeless and the abused.

Mike McCallister, Chairman and CEO of Humana, and Virginia Kelly Judd, Executive Director of The Humana Foundation, presented Humana’s individual donation as a result of its Walkit program, in which Humana pledged donations for distances walked. During the tournament week, more than 12,000 pedometers were distributed to fans, players and the general public, with walkers accumulating 84 million steps. This strong showing of support resulted in a $500,000 commitment from The Humana Foundation to benefit the local community.

“Humana and its partners are committed to continuing the longstanding tradition of philanthropy surrounding the tournament,” McCallister said. “We are proud that, with the help of the local community, Humana and The Humana Foundation can contribute even more to the Coachella Valley, which has been an excellent host and a key reason for the tournament’s success.”