Each spring, Healthcare Initiative Foundation (HIF) identifies one to two nonprofits who exemplify volunteer service in the health and wellness space in Montgomery County.   In the last two and a half years, our community has seen the tremendous impact of volunteers through vaccination clinics, food distributions, health clinics, and more.

 In June 2022, HIF had the privilege of bestowing the Brooks Saltsman Award to Guru Gobind Singh Foundation and A Place of Hope.  Both organizations received an investment of $2,500 to support their health and wellness programming. Brooks Johnstone Saltsman was a former HIF Trustee who dedicated her life to volunteerism. This award recognizing an outstanding nonprofit was created to honor her legacy. 

Guru Gobind Singh Foundation launched into the nonprofit service space in March 2020, putting their Sikh principles into practice to help their community as the pandemic surged.  Since this time, using more than #100,000 volunteer hours with #400 volunteers, Guru Gobind Singh Foundation has provided hundreds of bags of produce and non-perishable goods, and more than #345,000 vegetarian prepared meals.   The Foundation continues to serve knowing that their community has ongoing food insecurity challenges.  With this award and its investment, the Foundation intends to provide healthy meals and food to #500 community members while also helping to ensure their access to local medical providers for ongoing health services.  To learn more, visit their website. 

A Place of Hope is a new and mighty community service provider.  A Place of Hope is also dedicated to addressing food insecurity issues in Montgomery County and committed to building a culturally competent healthcare workforce.  Since their inception, they have provided meals to #2,000 members of our community while also offering care coordination of resources, training and employment supports, and vaccine administration.  With this award and investment, , A Place of Hope will be able to offer Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) or Geriatric Nursing Assistant (GNA) training to #2 individuals from the black and brown communities in Montgomery County effort to address the growing demand for culturally competent healthcare workers!  Follow their work on their Facebook page. 

If you are interested in volunteering in our community, make sure to check out Montgomery County Volunteer Center’s page.