The Healthcare Foundation of La Porte (HFL) hasn’t had a place to call their own since being established in 2016. They’ve been bouncing around, borrowing space from different organizations the past three years, but that’s all about to change because they’ve officially broken ground on a large plot of land just East of Pine Lake.
The brand new, state-of-the-art conference and learning center will serve as offices for HFL and create a new home for nonprofits and government entities needing a place for retreats, meetings, and anything else they might need to thrive. Maria Fruth, President and CEO of the Healthcare Foundation of La Porte, hope this new home will make nonprofits and the overall community stronger.
“It was a long road and a tremendous amount of work to strategize and truly understand the needs of the community and find the perfect location,” said Fruth. “There are some great benefits to being in this area, and hopefully we can help La Porte go to the next stage of community improvement.”
According to Fruth, many nonprofits in the La Porte area struggle with restrictive budgets that keep them from thriving. On top of that, many don’t have a place to call home. But the new conference and learning center will provide that home and any technology or business advice they may need.
“Hopefully we will be able to bring a lot of different programs to help nonprofits become bigger, better, and more productive,” said Fruth.
Jeffrey Bernel, Board Chair for the Healthcare Foundation of La Porte, realized the importance of the education component of the Foundation to both nonprofits and the community.
“We’re providing education and we’re going to teach, teach, teach, and teach,” Bernel emphasized. “Our mission is primarily a grant-making organization and the better we can help them with our resources, the better the community as a whole does.”
The new conference and learning center will also have an incubation part of the program, according to Bernel. The incubator will research gaps in the needs of the community and plan to create new nonprofits that will take over that need and run that, while the Foundation runs the nonprofit.
La Porte Mayor, Mark Krentz, was beyond excited about the groundbreaking, knowing how well this new center is going to serve the community.
“This groundbreaking is actually an earth-shaking event for La Porte,” said Krentz. “Because this facility will serve as the heartbeat of a generous foundation that will benefit La Porte for years and generations to come.”
The new headquarters will also feature a water stop and picnic area for families (and their dogs) right on the new Chessie Trail. This groundbreaking will be the first of many new and different businesses and homes coming to the area.
The mission of HFL is to help La Porte become one of the top ten healthiest communities in Indiana by the year 2030. The conference and learning center project began in February, and the center will be completed by late May or June in 2020.
Discover more at www.hflaporte.org.
