Health Equity Catalyst Grants from the HCA Healthcare Foundation to support organizations and collaboratives addressing health inequities

Las Vegas, NV – HCA Healthcare’s Far West Division, part of the national HCA Healthcare system, is making the new year a bit brighter for one Las Vegas nonprofit organization that is providing healthy meals to neighbors and communities across Southern Nevada.

On behalf of the HCA Healthcare Foundation, Lighthouse Charities is receiving a $25,000 grant to support their efforts to increase access to healthy, nutrient dense foods to the Southern Nevada community. This is part of the Foundation’s new Health Equity Catalyst Grant Program. This year, the grants were given to nonprofits addressing food insecurity and providing access to healthy foods across the country.

Lighthouse Charities is a Las Vegas based non-profit organization driven to support the community through “compassionate service, community-building, and dedicated empowerment” according to their website. The organization offers critical resources and work programs for the Las Vegas refugee, asylum seeking, and legal immigrant population, but seeks to have a wider community-impact through their various programs including their food-generating programs.

“We are incredibly excited to be the recipients of the Health Equity Catalyst Grant,” says Cindy Trussel, Executive Director of Lighthouse Charities. “We hope to use the award to expand our Corner Market, support our hydroponics and vertical gardens, and continue to supply fresh produce to our clients, bakery, market, and partners.”

In the future, Lighthouse Charities hopes to partner with other community organizations and businesses, and local gardens in Las Vegas to bring healthy, fresh, unprocessed foods to Southern Nevada. They also hope to work with local schools to establish school gardens and training programs for students.

Jackie Van Blaricum, Far West Division president, said, “We are so proud to support and partner with organizations like Lighthouse Charities that are truly making a difference to improve the health and wellbeing of our Greater Las Vegas community.”

Launched in August 2023, the Health Equity Catalyst Grant Program provides one-time operating grants to support organizations and collaboratives addressing health inequities in a defined focus area in order to advance or accelerate efforts to:

  • Provide culturally and structurally competent services,
  • Advance high-impact health equity programming,
  • Support collaborative health equity efforts, and/or
  • Address root causes of health inequities.

In addition to these grants, the Far West Division hospitals across Nevada and California hosted their third-annual Healthy Food for Healthier Tomorrows Food & Nutrition Drives to help fight against food insecurity, providing approximately 1300+ pounds of food to local food banks. In total, HCA Healthcare, its colleagues and the HCA Healthcare Foundation provided more than 1 million nutritious meals to community food banks by donating food or making financial contributions to help purchase perishable items such as milk, fruit and vegetables.

The Healthier Tomorrow Fund is a community impact fund focused on addressing high-priority community needs and advancing health equity. Since its launch in 2021, the Healthier Tomorrow Fund has committed more than $18.86 million in communities where HCA Healthcare has a presence and made grants to 79 nonprofit organizations.