The Weiler Family Foundation awarded a $35,000 grant to Pocono Mountains United Way to support children and families in Monroe County.

The funding will support United Way’s Healthy Start Early Childhood Screening Program to deliver free hearing, vision, dental and developmental screenings to children birth to age 5 in Monroe County.

The Healthy Start program helps identify needs of young children during their most critical time of rapid growth and learning.

Screenings are provided at local day care centers, school programs and during other special events throughout the county. Since research shows the early years are learning years, it is extremely important that issues are identified and addressed quickly so that children are ready to learn.

If an issue is identified during one of the screenings, parents are connected to programs that can help address the child’s need.

“Our childhood screenings have remained the heart of prevention for children living in Monroe County for the last 16 years. Thanks to The Weiler Family Foundation, children in our community will have the best opportunity to enter school ready to learn,” Pocono Mountains United Way President/CEO Michael Tukeva said.

“We are very happy to support Pocono Mountains United Way in their efforts to help local families and make sure that our children get the healthy start that they deserve,” Weiler Family Foundation Chairman Karl Weiler said.

Pocono Mountains United Way engages and mobilizes resources to improve lives through accelerated community change. For more information, visit https://poconounitedway.org.