TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo's historic Vistula District is receiving an award from a local partner that hopes to improve the community in a variety of ways.
Mercy Health and the Vistula Foundation announced on Monday that Mercy is awarding the foundation with $290,000 via the Mercy Community Health Fund Award.
"This really allows us to expand on existing programming and bring in new programming. Really bring back some of the traditional programming that was here at the Friendly Center," said Vistula Foundation President Andrew Newby. "Before school programming, after school programming, programming for the neighbors, doing things like socialization and relationship building within the community, and even drawing attention to the Vistula neighborhood."
The Vistula Foundation is a non-profit in Toledo that focuses on historic preservation and advocacy of Toledo’s first neighborhood, which was founded in 1832.
With the award, the goal is to revitalize the Friendly Center, a community hub of the foundation that aims to provide the necessary resources for community needs.
"When I started at Mercy Health 24 years ago, the Friendly Center was a beacon," said the director of community health at Toledo-Bon Secours of Mercy, Jessica Henry. "It was thriving and so many things were happening. For us, having a one-stop shop for people to be able to address any of the social-type things is a wonderful thing for us to do."
The hope for the award, outside of the financial impact, is the prospect of having more partners jump on board and help out the foundation.
"I think the impact we can have here will help us not only grow the neighborhood and help the neighbors out, but also grow our riverfront and grow Toledo and downtown," said Newby.
If you are in need of assistance from the foundation, click HERE for more information.
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