Ann Fuller wants to know what Butler County’s strengths are.

More importantly, she wants to know what its weaknesses are.

Fuller works with Strategic Alliance, a group that will help administer a $20,000 grant given to Butler County to promote healthy living, and she’s seeking answers to the question of what Butler County needs to be a healthier county.

“As you can imagine, when we have these resources, and we don’t live or work here in Butler County, we really don’t know what your assets and your strengths are, or what your weaknesses or your needs are,” Fuller said.

On Thursday, Fuller and Stacey Adams, communities coordinator for Strategic Alliance, held a meeting with members of the community in order to receive feedback on how the grant money should be used to promote healthier living in the county.

Fuller has been interviewing specific leaders in the community in different sectors to decide where the money needs to be spent. These sectors include community institution/organization, health care, school and worksites. The last sector is the community at large.

The questions she asked were based around policies and environmental aspects put into physical activity, nutrition, tobacco, chronic disease management and leadership.

The deadline for the application process to apply for a portion of the money to go towards a sustainable project is Dec. 1.

“We have a project request form, which is essentially a mini-grant application,” Adams said. “The worst thing that I could hear, would be that somebody didn’t know that we had funding and didn’t know that they could apply for these resources.”

An individual or group can apply for a grant between $250 or $10,000.

“I want you to think big and I want you to think small because the impact can really be great regardless of what you’re applying for,” Adams said. “We do this because we don’t know Butler County. We don’t live here and we don’t work here but we want to work here and make improvements.”

The grant was awarded to Dallas, Sumter and Perry Counties and those three counties were allowed to mentor six additional counties, which included Butler County.

The grant targets chronic disease prevention, and it will be looking at obesity, diabetes and heart disease as well as the risk factors of poor nutrition, lack of physical activity and tobacco use and exposure.

To apply for a grant, contact Adams at stacey.adams@adph.state.al.us, 334-877-2832 or visit the website at http://www.adph.org/strategicalliance.