Food Bank of Northwest Indiana Receives $1,000 from DaVita Dialysis

Food Bank of Northwest Indiana Receives $1,000 from DaVita Dialysis

On Monday, December 21st, DaVita Dialysis of Gary announced a $1,000 donation to the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana as part of the DaVita Way of Giving program. The program allows individual clinical facilities across the country to donate to a local nonprofit of their choice. This marks the fourth year that the Gary facility has chosen to donate to the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana.

The DaVita Dialysis Gary facility serves approximately 200 patients. Deborah Bliss, social worker at the clinic, says that many of those patients also use local agencies like the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana on a regular basis. Often patients lose work and benefits because of their illness and the Food Bank serves as an important resource.

“Chronic illness disrupts so much,” Bliss said. “Knowing that there is a meal on the table takes care of the basic needs of living. Clients can feel that they still have some things that are going to be okay.”

DaVita provides dialysis services and education for patients with chronic kidney disease and end stage renal disease. They operate more than 2,000 outpatient dialysis centers across the US, with multiple centers throughout Lake and Porter Counties.

“DaVita is part of this community,” Bliss said. “We want patients that come through our doors to be well totally… and being able to support entities such as the Food Bank in the community that we share is super important. We’re helping each other make our community strong and helping those in need find their way to having productive and stabilized lives.”

This year nearly 75 percent of DaVita’s dialysis facilities donated to more than 950 local nonprofits and community organizations, giving more than $2 million to charities across the United States.

“We are truly grateful that DaVita chose to give to the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana,” said Arleen Peterson, executive director of the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana. “Having support from folks and organizations throughout the community is critical to fighting hunger and serving the many children, adults, and seniors in need across the Region.”