Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers has received assistance to help address the obesity epidemic.

The Cook County Department of Public Health and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago awarded Little Company of Mary $120,000 to assist in the fight against obesity.

The CCDPH announced Wednesday that the group awarded $4 million to 41 agencies in suburban Cook County to do a variety of activities to help fight this epidemic.

“Today is a day of transformation for the communities of suburban Cook County,” CCDPH Chief Operating Officer Stephen A. Martin Jr. said in a press release issued Wednesday by the CCDPH. “The allocation of these resources will serve as a catalyst for significant community-level change that will lead to a reduction in the incidence of chronic disease. It is one step in the fight to make healthier choices the easier choices for our residents.”

A Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to PHIMC and CCDPH in March made the funding possible.

The Cook County Department of Public Health said the award is part of its Health’s Model Communities program, which seeks to “align with the nationwide effort of developing local-level policy, system and environmental change that result in residents having increased access to healthy foods and having safe places to be physically active," according to the press release.

Officials hope the grant will help counter the harsh statistic that nearly 63 percent of adults and 40 percent of children in suburban Cook County are overweight or obese.

Grant funds will help promote breastfeeding, increase opportunities for physical activity in schools, add access to services for adults at-risk or with chronic conditions including obesity, and create more safe and convenient spaces for physical activities, among other initiatives.