Hospice received $150,000 to help pay for the construction of a 12-bed residential Hospice facility in Landrum. The facility is currently under construction off Fairwinds Road.

St. Luke&squo;s Health Care received $100,000 from the Duke Endowment to go toward the purchase of orthopedic equipment.

Based in Charlotte, N.C., and established in 1924 by N.C. industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, The Duke Endowment is the largest private foundation in the Carolinas. Its more than 200 new grants from the first half of this year include:

&ull; $16 million to foster excellence through education.

&ull; $23 million to improve health and wellness.

&ull; $13 million to safeguard children and help them develop.

&ull; $8 million to fortify the leadership of faith communities and to reward retired United Methodist ministers and their families for service.

The total also includes a $50 million grant, announced in April, to Duke University School of Medicine to help build a medical education facility and create a &dquo;hospital within a hospital&dquo; for pediatric patients.

With its health care grants, the Endowment works through hospitals and health care providers to expand preventive and early intervention programs, to improve the quality and safety of services and to increase access to care. A grant of nearly $900,000, for example, was awarded to support the South Carolina Public Health Institute and to expand a perinatal outreach program for Latino families.

The Duke Endowment, in Charlotte, N.C., seeks to fulfill the legacy of James B. Duke by enriching lives and communities in the Carolinas through higher education, health care, rural churches and children&squo;s services. With assets of more than $3 billion, the endowment has awarded more than $2.4 billion in grants since its inception in 1924.