A completed Healing Garden is now a place of prayer and solitude at Franciscan Health Michigan City, thanks to a $25,000 gift from the NECA/IBEW 531 Powering America team of Northwest Indiana.
The gift funded three Healing Garden features:
- $10,000 for the Prayer/Family Conference Space, home to a statue of Blessed Maria Theresia Bonzel, foundress of the congregation that established our healthcare system.
- $10,000 for a Mosaic Paver Band of stone that resembles water near the Grotto Wall.
- $5,000 for a wall seat area in the Prayer/Family Conference Space.
“We are appreciative of all that Franciscan does to support us as an industry and the communities in which we live,” said Northern Indiana NECA Executive Manager Matthew LaFree. “The Powering America brand is one that marries what the IBEW and NECA have built individually for almost 120 years. We adopted it locally in Northwest Indiana just a couple years ago with a similar mindset. Together, we are greater than the sum of our parts. In that same spirit, when we were presented an opportunity to be a part of what Franciscan brings to the Region, we gratefully and humbly accepted.”
The objects of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are to cultivate feelings of friendship among those of our industry, to assist each other in sickness or distress and to seek a higher standard of living by elevating the moral, intellectual and social conditions of our members, their families and dependents. IBEW Local 531 Business Manager Jim Clarida said, “We strongly believe that a rising tide raises all ships. We feel a strong connection to the communities we serve, and we will do everything we can to help those within these communities.”
Franciscan Health Michigan City President and CEO Dean Mazzoni said, “Franciscan Health’s Healing Garden was created to provide a space for patients, visitors and those who care for them to pray and find comfort in the tranquil surroundings. The men and women of NECA/IBEW helped build our new hospital. We are grateful for their support, which enabled us to provide this beautiful place of healing.”
