FLORENCE – The BlueCross BlueShield Foundation will present Mercy Medicine Clinic with a check for $50,000 on Oct. 3 at Carolinas Hospital System’s Floyd Conference Center, as part of the organization’s ongoing grant program across South Carolina.

The funding will go a long way toward supporting the clinic in its ongoing mission of assisting the indigent and working poor of Florence and Dillon counties, said Kaye Allen, executive director of Mercy Medicine Clinic.

“The number of people who require our services is only getting bigger from year to year and this money will do so much to help Mercy Medicine Clinic provide them with the healthcare services they so desperately need,” she said.

The BlueCross BlueShield foundation has already awarded more than $1.6 million in grants this year throughout the Palmetto State for such wide-ranging projects as free medical clinics, health education programs and school nursing programs. It typically focuses its grant and funding efforts on childhood and adolescent health, as well as healthcare access for the uninsured and underinsured.

“The Mercy Medicine Clinic should be commended for their generosity and compassion for the citizens of Florence and Dillon counties,” said Harvey L. Galloway, director of the BlueCross BlueShield Foundation. “We are pleased to help in their endeavors by rewarding their efforts with this grant.”

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina is headquartered in Columbia and serves nearly one million people in the Palmetto State and has more than 12,000 employees. Mercy Medicine Clinic, which opened its doors in 1994, is one of 24 free clinics in South Carolina that provides primary medical care, as well as dental and retinal services.