NCF Delaware Awards Scholarship

Leekieshia Grimsley, RN, had just been accepted to an MSN-FNP program when her pre-tuition paid funding was withdrawn by the hospital where she worked as a nurse. Her husband was starting a new business and they had a baby to care for. Leekieshia wondered how she was going to pay for her schooling.

Then she heard about a $500 scholarship grant from a local nurse group of Nurses Christian Fellowship. Leekieshia applied—and won! In May, during a celebration for National Nurses Week, Leekieshia was presented with the scholarship by the Delaware NCF chapter. Her family was there to share in the honor.

"Leekieshia is very deserving of our scholarship and a great example of the hands and feet of Christ in her nursing practice,” said NCF group leader Lisa McCalister. 

Applicants wrote essays on how they will use their Christian values in their nursing practice.

“As a nurse, I recognize there is a natural component of illness, but there is also a spiritual component,” Leekieshia wrote. “As a follower of Jesus, I am commanded to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love my neighbor—including patients—as myself and care for them just as Jesus would. Through my practice, I not only care for the natural but also the spiritual, allowing my life to be an example for others to follow the one true living God.”

Leekieshia also volunteers in a local nurse ministry through her church and has participated in global health projects in Haiti and Nigeria.

The Delaware NCF chapter started in 2013. The group members invite nurses to a special celebration every year during National Nurses Week in May. They start planning their event in January and raise scholarship money through yard sales, bake sales, dine-out events, and other fundraisers.

In addition to the scholarship award, the group incorporated the NCF Bible study on the ANA theme for Nurses Week: Inspire, Innovate, Influence. A Christian nurse was invited to share his inspiring story of leading a patient to Christ under unusual circumstances.

All the guests enjoyed a delicious potluck dinner, and the leaders also prepared a special Blessing of Hands ceremony with a liturgical prayer for the nurses who attended the event.

Leekieshia Grimsley is not the only one who is grateful for this group of devoted nurses. Lana Gordineer is a co-leader of the chapter who said, “I feel truly blessed to be part of this wonderful fellowship and learn from Lisa’s leadership.”

Nurses Week may be over, but the Delaware NCF group continues to provide encouragement and community as they care for others with the compassion of Christ.

Find out if there is a local NCF group near you, or consider starting an NCF group for nurses in your community.