The Duke Endowment has announced grants totaling $10.3 million to twenty-six United Methodist organizations in North Carolina.

The grants were awarded through the Charlotte-based foundation's Rural Church program, which works to enhance congregational vitality, deepen spiritual formation, and foster community impact. The program supports United Methodist churches that serve rural North Carolina communities, the North Carolina and western North Carolina conferences and districts of the United Methodist Church, and Duke University Divinity School.

The grants include $1.8 million to Rural Advancement Foundation International to help rural North Carolina churches expand and coordinate their food ministry programs; $850,000 to Sharon United Methodist Church in Kinston for a community home repair program; $180,000 to Jonesboro United Methodist Church in Sanford to expand a Hispanic community outreach program; and $80,000 to the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church in Charlotte to engage congregations in service to schools.