Evansville, Indiana – Welborn Baptist Foundation today announced the results of a major health survey that will provide the region surrounding Evansville with reliable benchmarks of the community’s health status—all the way down to the county level. These benchmarks cover 18 distinct health issues that impact the area’s health and economy.

The research survey was conducted in 2008 among more than 2,200 adults in five of the fourteen counties served by the Welborn Baptist Foundation, which commissioned the survey. These counties were selected because they are representative of the region’s overall population. These include Vanderburgh, Warrick, and Spencer counties in Indiana, plus Henderson County in Kentucky and Saline County in Illinois.

“The survey shows that our community is proactively taking the initiative to screen for health conditions like diabetes and cancer,” said Kevin Bain, Foundation Executive Director and CEO. “This is a critical step because the area’s high degree of overweight and obesity makes residents prime candidates for related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.” 

Bain added, “Smoking remains the single greatest avoidable cause of disease and death; the community’s high incidence of smokers places citizens at risk for poor health and increased economic costs. The other health conditions reported are largely related to physical inactivity and eating habits, and are mostly preventable with lifestyle changes. Consequently, addressing these health challenges will bring tremendous social and economic benefit to our area.” 

Welborn Baptist Foundation anticipates that making the survey results broadly available will encourage informed dialogue about the region’s current health status, provide direction for efforts by community leaders, and make it possible to track community progress toward a healthier Tri-State.

The entire report is available on the Foundation’s web site here. Printed copies are also available upon request at the Foundation’s office at Twenty-One Southeast Third Street, Suite 610, Evansville, IN.

Evansville, Indiana - Welborn Baptist Foundation, Inc. has awarded a total of fifty-three (53) grants to tri-state not-for-profit organizations, totaling approximately $3.99 million for programs within the Foundation’s target areas of Promotion of Early Childhood Development, Promotion of Healthy Adolescent Development, Faith-Based Initiatives, Improvements In Community Health Status and School-Based Health Programs. Coupled with the $24 million granted by the Foundation between 2000 and 2007, this year’s grants bring total Foundation support to more than $28 million dollars.

“This is the culmination of a process that began in March of this year. Initially, we received 150 letters of interest requesting more than $12.8 million dollars. We reduced that number to 61 projects that were requested to submit full proposals. After much careful consideration, we have arrived at these fifty-three (53) grants. We believe these grants represent the very best in efforts to improve the health and well-being of infants, children and adults in our community”, said Foundation Board Chairman E. Lynn Johnson. “The organizations receiving these grants have overwhelmingly demonstrated their ability to contribute to community health and the immense need for their services”, Johnson said.

Funds for 2008 are distributed as follows:

“Our interests continue to be in efforts that make a meaningful difference in individual lives and in the collective health of our community. Among our goals is to raise awareness about those actions and activities that will result in healthier choices and healthier lives. These projects help us do that”, said Marjorie Z. Soyugenc, Welborn Baptist Foundation Executive Director and CEO. “We have found those projects to be of the highest quality, consistent with the goals, objectives and mission of the Foundation and worthy of our support. There is a discipline of accountability in every grant award made in that all grant recipients must complete an approved evaluation component.”

Included in the funds granted, the Foundation designated the Donald B. Cox Memorial Grant of $130,000 award to Evansville ARC. The award is named for Mr. Donald B. Cox, a former Foundation Chairman, who died in 2005. A complete listing of 2008 grants can be found here.