RUMFORD – The River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition celebrated the receipt of a $322,000 grant to try to make northern Oxford County residents healthier by planting a tree Monday afternoon.

The funds come from the tobacco settlement, the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, and the Center for Disease Control.

The money will be used to continue to battle tobacco use, fight obesity and drug use, which have been major targets of the organization for several years, and to focus on chronic disease, coalition coordinator Patty Duguay said.

The funds also enabled the coalition to expand into the Fryeburg area and to add an additional position. The coalition covers 22 towns in Oxford County.

Duguay said Gov. John E. Baldacci and state health officials announced a streamlined public health infrastructure earlier in the month that included regionalization of healthy community coalition partnerships. It was in Augusta that the River Valley organization received an apple tree to plant in Morency Park as a symbol of the state’s new health infrastructure.

The local coalition has maintained school health coordinators in SAD 21 in Dixfield, SAD 44 in Bethel, and SAD 43 in Rumford for several years. With the new grant, a school health coordinator has been added to SAD 72 in Fryeburg, Duguay said.

“The tree is a symbol of Maine’s innovative health strategy,” said Duguay. “The growing sapling will serve as a lasting reminder of our commitment to helping Maine become the healthiest state in the nation.”

Stephanie Thompson, the coalition’s substance abuse prevention coordinator, said every community in the state is covered by a healthy communities coalition.

The River Valley organization collaborates with Healthy Oxford Hills, which covers the remaining towns in Oxford County, the Healthy Communities Coalition in Farmington, and the Androscoggin Healthy Communities Coalition.