Providence Health & Services donated $400,000 Wednesday to a dozen San Fernando Valley area nonprofit groups that serve the homeless, the disabled and school children in low-income areas.

The money will be presented at a 3 p.m. ceremony today in the chapel at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, 501 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA, 91505.

Funding comes from the Mother Joseph Fund, which holds contributions from the three Providence medical centers in the San Fernando Valley. Each of the hospitals provides funding to advance the Providence mission of outreach to the poor and vulnerable.

“Living our core strategy of Creating Healthier Communities, Together, we are blessed with the resources to partner with community organizations who share our Mission, the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health of all those we serve,” said Sr. Nancy Jurecki, OP, chief mission integration officer for Providence Health & Services, Southern California.

An advisory board composed of Providence employees, physicians, board members and community representatives chose 12 programs – two of them within Providence – for this second disbursement of Mother Joseph Fund grants:

Alliance for Housing and Healing
Supportive housing for homeless persons with HIV/AIDS

All-Inclusive Community Health Center
Community health center

Boys and Girls Club of Burbank and Greater East Valley
Afterschool programs for youth

Olive View/UCLA Education and Research Institute
Diagnosing Chagas disease in immigrants

Family Promise of the Verdugos
Care for homeless families

Family Service Agency of Burbank
Helping survivors of domestic violence

Guardian Angel Catholic School
Supporting physical education program

New Horizons
Programming for special needs people regarding employment, housing

Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind
Serving the children 0-5 with visual impairments and developmental disabilities

Access to Care (Established by Providence)
Connecting the poor and vulnerable to medical services

Mobile Health program (Established by Providence)
Bringing medical care to the poor and vulnerable

Sr. Jurecki credited employees of Providence Tarzana, Providence Holy Cross and Providence Saint Joseph medical centers for making the fund possible by honoring the organization’s core value of stewardship. Providence urges departments across-the-board to identify ways to trim costs without sacrificing care to ensure funding for the community’s most vulnerable.