Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation

Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation Awards $36,500 in Grants

Barberton, Ohio — Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation has awarded $36,500 in third-quarter grants to five nonprofit organizations providing important health and wellness services in Barberton and southern Summit County.

Since 1996, Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation has carried forward a commitment to improving health and wellness in the communities it serves. Through its grantmaking, the Foundation helps local organizations meet people where they are, whether that means connecting a student and family with needed services, providing mental health support to a first responder, making sure an older adult has nutritious meals, or helping someone receive compassionate care at the end of life.

This quarter’s grants put that mission into action across a range of needs.

Red Oak Behavioral Health received $15,000 to continue coordinating the Barberton Community Wellness Collaborative within Barberton City Schools. The collaborative brings together more than 15 community partners and school staff to identify needs and connect students and families with mental health services, housing support, food assistance, and other community resources. The goal is to make it easier for families to reach the right help without having to navigate multiple organizations on their own.

Child Guidance & Family Solutions received $7,500 for mental health screening tools and therapeutic supplies. The largest portion of the grant, $4,500, will provide therapeutic supplies for the organization’s new Green office. The grant also supports mental health screening tools for use with children, adolescents, and adults at both its Green and Barberton offices.

Grace House Akron received $7,500 to help provide compassionate care and basic needs for terminally ill adults experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, or significant financial hardship who have no safe place to receive end-of-life care. Grant funding will support 24-hour caregiving as well as meals and other needs for residents, helping ensure that people can experience comfort and dignity at the end of life regardless of their ability to pay.

Axess Family Services received $4,000 for its Mobile Meals program. The program provides nutritious meals to older adults, people with disabilities, and other residents in southern Summit County who are hungry, homebound, or unable to prepare meals independently. Beyond providing nutrition, meal delivery also offers regular contact with vulnerable residents and can help identify concerns before they become emergencies.

Safety Forces Support Center received $2,500 for mental health and peer support training for first responders. The organization provides confidential counseling, peer support training, and critical incident stress management for police, firefighters, EMS personnel, dispatchers, and other first responders who regularly experience high-stress and traumatic situations.

Together, the five grants demonstrate the many ways health and wellness needs show up in a community and the important role local nonprofit organizations play in responding to them. By investing in these organizations, Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation is helping strengthen the network of care and support available to people throughout its service area.

For information about the grant process, contact Carrie Herman, Director of Community Impact at Barberton Community Foundation, at 330-745-5995 or cherman@barbertoncf.org.

Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation Invests in the Next Generation of Nurses 

Eight nursing students attending six Ohio universities received 2026 scholarships from the Foundation

Barberton, Ohio — Nurses provide lifesaving care, make critical decisions, help bring babies safely into the world, guide patients through treatment and recovery, and share in moments of progress and healing. Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation is investing in the students preparing to take on that responsibility.

The Foundation recognized its 2026 nursing scholarship recipients during an awards luncheon on July 23. Josh Gordon, executive director of Barberton Community Foundation, and Mary Jo Goss, RN, chair of the Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation Nursing Scholarship Committee, welcomed the recipients and their guests.

“These students have chosen a profession that requires knowledge, compassion, judgment, and resilience,” Goss said. “We are proud to support their education and look forward to the difference they will make for patients, families, and communities.”

The 2026 nursing scholarship recipients are:

• Madeleine Antwi, Walsh University

  Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Nursing Scholarship

• Emma Davis, University of Mount Union

  Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Nursing Scholarship

• Rachel Denee, Kent State University

  Kovalchin Memorial Scholarship

• Alexandra Martin, The University of Akron

  The Carol A. Storad Nursing Excellence Scholarship and The Christine Elaine Weigand RN Memorial Scholarship

• Adrielle McMullen, The University of Akron

  Kovalchin Memorial Scholarship

• Raelanna Moore, Malone University

  Scholarship in Memory of Emma Rist, RN and Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Nursing Scholarship

• Godred Nyafre, Kent State University

  Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Nursing Scholarship

• Caroline Roush, The University of Toledo

  Kovalchin Memorial Scholarship

Several of this year’s awards carry forward the legacies of nurses who shaped local health care and nursing education. Bernadine H. Kovalchin served as a nurse and nursing education leader at Barberton Citizens Hospital before becoming a vocational medical careers instructor and school nurse. Carol A. Storad rose from staff nurse to chief nursing officer during a 43-year career at the hospital. Emma Rist helped establish the hospital’s Coronary Care Unit in 1972, and Christine Elaine Weigand devoted 30 years to nursing as a clinician, charge nurse, preceptor, and care manager.

Scholarships are available to eligible nursing students from southern Summit, southern Medina, northern Stark, and northern Wayne counties. Applications are due in early June each year.

The 2026 Nursing Scholarship Committee included Susan Barrett, RN; Dianna Dean, RN; Mary Jo Goss, RN; Andrea Pfouts, BSW; and David R. Stephens, BSN, RN, CNA, MHA.

Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation was created in 1996 through the merger of the Barberton Citizens Hospital Foundation and the Barberton Citizens Hospital Auxiliary, which had long histories of supporting local health care. Its nursing scholarship program began in 1997 and now awards up to $35,000 annually to help promising, hard-working students pursue careers in nursing. The independent foundation also provides grants that expand health, wellness, medical, and educational opportunities throughout the region. Barberton Community Foundation serves as its administrative partner.

Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation Invests $56,750 in Programs for Children and Families 

Barberton, Ohio — Tuscora Park Health & Wellness Foundation has awarded $56,750 in grants to seven organizations working to improve health, expand access, and strengthen well-being for children, families, and residents in Barberton and southern Summit County.

The 2026 grants invest in the conditions that shape community health, supporting children’s mental health, youth development, access to healthcare and legal services, and stronger families across the region.

Child Guidance and Family Solutions ($15,000) will continue its Building Resilience in Children (BRIC) program at Barberton Primary School. BRIC equips teachers with practical strategies to address disruptive behaviors, helping create classrooms where every student can learn. With more than 500 children in kindergarten through second grade, the program supports a positive learning environment during a critical stage of child development.

Embracing Futures ($12,000) will provide orthodontic care for two children in southern Summit County whose families could not otherwise afford treatment.

Greenleaf Family Center ($8,000) will expand adolescent suicide prevention programming in middle and high schools across southern Summit County. The program reaches an estimated 6,500 students with education and early intervention designed to help young people recognize warning signs, seek help, and support one another.

Victory Gallop ($6,300) will provide therapeutic riding scholarships for seven children with disabilities, covering spring, summer, and fall sessions.

Akron Urban League ($5,450) will offer an eight-week summer day camp for children ages 8 to 12, with 30 percent of campers expected to come from the Foundation’s service area.