Franciscan Health Michigan City celebrates Horizon Bank and NIPSCO for donations to new hospital’s community room and café

Franciscan-Health-Michigan-City-celebrates-Horizon-Bank-and-NIPSCO-for-donations-to-new-hospital-2019_01 Franciscan Health Michigan City and the Franciscan Health Foundation saluted Horizon Bank and NIPSCO last week for their generous gifts to two community spaces at the new hospital.

Horizon Bank’s $25,000 gift went to support the Blessed Maria Theresia Bonzel Community Room, a meeting space on the hospital’s first floor. NIPSCO’s $25,000 gift supports the Dunes Café, the hospital’s dining area.

“Horizon Bank and NIPSCO, through your support of our mission, we’re eternally grateful. Thank you for your commitment to improving the communities we serve together,” said Franciscan Health Michigan City President and CEO Dean Mazzoni, speaking to representatives of the two organizations at the Feb. 15 gathering.

Franciscan-Health-Michigan-City-celebrates-Horizon-Bank-and-NIPSCO-for-donations-to-new-hospital-2019_02 Rachel Saxon, president and senior trust officer for Horizon Trust & Investment Management, said, “It was a natural decision and part of our giving philosophy at Horizon to financially support the new hospital and their community room that will serve as a gathering place for families and for community organizations.”

Violet Sistovaris, executive vice president and president for NIPSCO, said when the organization was thinking about how they could enhance the Dunes Café, they tapped a talented NIPSCO employee, Ishmael Muhammad Nieves. He worked with students at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts to create paintings portraying scenes of the dunes and Lake Michigan shoreline that are displayed in the café.

“It really is our hope that efforts like this will serve the community, and it will be a place of not just nourishment, but where people that are waiting on their loved ones … can go and get more than just nourishment, but some peace and quiet and some kind of compassion,” Sistovaris said.

“You know what it means to invest in the growth of communities,” said Rick Peltier, executive director of the Franciscan Health Foundation. “You invested in the growth of this new hospital. And we built this hospital for the community.”