Dental services for uninsured and underinsured children, physical activity instruction for cancer survivors, and parenting education for at-risk families are among the areas of need being addressed by grants just awarded by The Blue Ribbon Foundation of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Five grants recently were approved by the foundation's board of directors, providing $33,227 in funding to regional nonprofit programs that will serve more than 2,800 people.The Foundation awarded the grants to healtheducation and prevention programs that operate in the 13 counties across northeastern and north central Pennsylvania that are served by Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsyl-vania. Each project met criteria under one of three grant categories: health and wellness mini-grants, health and wellness impact grants, and access to care grants for the un/underinsured."We're pleased to be in a position to support these critical health and wellness programs," said Cynthia A. Yevich, executive director of The Blue Ribbon Foundation. "Our funding will allow even more individuals to benefit from the important services these programs are providing."Among those receiving funding was Pocono Medical Center's Valerie M. Hodge Memorial Pediatric Dental Center, which received a grant of $4,300 to purchase supplies needed for dental exams, preventive dental care and oral hygiene education to 1,600 children from Carbon, Lackawanna, Monroe and Pike counties.Also receiving grants were the University of Scranton's Edward R. Leahy Center Clinic for the Uninsured in Lackawanna county, $8,000; Employment Opportunity and Training Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania, $5,111 for its Parents as Teachers Program; Ruth's Place, a program of Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, $7,056; and Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA, $8,760 for LIVESTRONG at the YMCA.