The Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation will give a $3 million grant to UNC Asheville’s N.C. Center for Health & Wellness, officials with the foundation and university announced on May 12.

The three-year grant to the N.C. Center for Health & Wellness is the biggest ever given by the foundation’s healthy active communities focus area — and it is one of the largest received by UNCA.

The grant will help grow the center’s current programs, which focus on preventing childhood obesity, worksite wellness and healthy aging, as well as help establish new programs at the center.

The $42 million, 133,500-square-foot N.C. Center for Health & Wellness is under construction and is planned to open in March 2011.