Humana, one of Louisiana’s leading health benefits companies, awarded a $100,000 grant in its 2009 Louisiana Benefits charitable giving program on Oct. 15 to Rapides Children’s Advocacy Center of Alexandria.

Rapides, which provides a safe environment for children to retell their abuse stories, plans to use its one-time $100,000 Louisiana Benefits grant to expand its services into Central Louisiana parishes by equipping a customized motor home.

“This specially reconfigured motor home will provide a safe and comfortable, child-friendly setting for us to conduct forensic interviews with the children,” said Rapides Executive Director Wade Bond. “With this new mobile advocacy center funded by Humana, we’ll also be able to provide therapy to abused children and their families, and assist law enforcement agencies and our justice system in investigating and prosecuting child abuse throughout all of Central Louisiana.”

Bond said Rapides hopes to have its new Humana-backed motor home traveling the roads of Central Louisiana sometime during the first quarter of 2010.

For the third consecutive year, Humana’s Louisiana Benefits awarded a one-time, $100,000 signature grant to a nonprofit organization based in Louisiana that is doing valuable work to benefit the people who live in the state. Louisiana Benefits supports charitable organizations that are focused on improving health experiences or building healthy communities in the areas of Mind, Body or Spirit.

More than 60 New Orleans business, civic and nonprofit leaders attended Humana’s 2009 Louisiana Benefits grant celebration event Oct. 15 at the Audubon Tea Room in New Orleans. Humana this fall received nearly 80 applications from Louisiana nonprofit groups and charitable organizations seeking the $100,000 grant.

A diverse panel of local judges, comprised of community leaders, public officials and business representatives, worked with Humana to select the 2009 $100,000 grant recipient in Louisiana Benefits.

“We know that in this economy it’s a challenging time for nonprofits and charities in our state,” said Humana Gulf States Region Senior Products Market President Jeffrey Fernandez, “so we’re pleased and proud that we can provide this transformational grant to Rapides Children’s Advocacy Center to advance their great work.”

“This program is playing a significant role in promoting healthy lives and healthy communities for people in Louisiana,” said Humana Louisiana Commercial Market President Jamie Schlottman. “Since its inception, Louisiana Benefits has been making a real difference in the lives of Louisianans.”

Humana also awarded smaller grants on Oct. 15, recognizing the community efforts of the other 2009 Louisiana Benefits finalists, Parkway Partners and the Louisiana Children’s Museum. Parkway Partners received a check for $15,000, and Humana presented the Louisiana Children’s Museum with a check for $5,000.

About the 2009 Humana Louisiana Benefits finalists

The Rapides Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) conducts forensic interviews with children who are victims of sexual abuse, severe physical abuse, and/or witnesses to violent crime.

The primary purpose of the center is to provide a non-threatening and “safe” environment for children to retell their abuse stories in a way that minimizes the potential of re-traumatizing the child.

The center’s second primary goal is to assist regional law enforcement and child welfare agencies and regional parish district attorneys in the investigation of alleged child abuse incidents for the purpose of prosecution.

Housed in a warm, child-friendly setting, Rapides’ highly trained interviewer speaks to children about their circumstances and obtains legally admissible information in a non-threatening manner. It’s the agency’s goal to have each child re-tell their abuse story once, so as to minimize the potential for re-victimization.

For more information, visit www.RapidesCAC.org.

Parkway Partners believes in the power of ordinary people to transform their neighborhoods and equips New Orleans residents to work with their green spaces. To empower residents, Parkway Partners operates a mix of programs that serve New Orleanians of all ages and economic and cultural backgrounds.

Parkway Partners volunteers maintain miles of neutral grounds, parklands, playgrounds, schools and public monuments. They transform blighted, abandoned properties into beautiful and productive community gardens and organize themselves to care for the city’s trees. Since hurricane Katrina, Parkway Partners volunteers have replaced more than 6,000 storm-downed trees.

For more information, visit www.ParkwayPartnersNOLA.org.

The Louisiana Children’s Museum, the oldest and largest children’s museum in the state, welcomes 125,000 visitors annually. Open to the public for the past 23 years, the museum provides resources developed especially for young children and their families.

Through community partnerships, outreach efforts, immersion programs and strategic collaborations, the museum serves the region’s broad demographic mix.

The Louisiana Children’s Museum is a lead partner in collaboration with numerous other organizations, including schools, Head Start, Tulane Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, University of New Orleans’ Department of Education and Human Development.

For more information, visit www.LCM.org.

About Humana Health Benefit Plan of Louisiana, Inc.

Humana Health Benefit Plan of Louisiana is one of the largest health benefits plans in the New Orleans market and the third largest in the state of Louisiana with more than 200,000 commercial medical members and more than 100,000 Medicare members.

About Humana

Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health and supplemental benefits companies, with approximately 10.3 million medical members and 6.8 million specialty members. Humana is a full-service benefits solutions company, offering a wide array of health and supplementary benefit plans for employer groups, government programs and individuals.

Over its 48-year history, Humana has consistently seized opportunities to meet changing customer needs. Today, the company is a leader in consumer engagement, providing guidance that leads to lower costs and a better health plan experience throughout its diversified customer portfolio.

More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor Relations page of the company’s Web site at www.humana.com. For more on Humana’s Louisiana Benefits charitable giving program, go online to www.louisianabenefits.org.