Lilly Endowment makes additional $1.5 million gift to 'recession' fund

The IBJ

Lilly Endowment will donate an additional $1.5 million to a local fund designed to address a recession-driven wave of demand for food, shelter and other basic needs, the United Way of Central Indiana announced today.

The endowment's latest gift will add to the $3.2 million Community Economic Relief Fund, set up in December and administered by United Way. Lilly's initial gift to the fund was $2 million.

"Lilly Endowment continues to be impressed by the compelling needs of those most affected by current economic conditions, and the collaborative and strategic approach to those needs demonstrated by CERF and its funders," N. Clay Robbins, president of Lilly Endowment, stated in a press release issued this morning.

CERF also will receive an $8,600 gift from St. Luke's Methodist Church, the United Way said. The Indianapolis-based Moore Foundation will provide a dollar-for-dollar match of the church's gift.

United Way has been doling out the emergency funds to 48 different agencies, which may use the money to buy food and prescription medication or help with utilities.

Health-related agencies have used the emergency funds to help 4,200 households with things such as medical or dental care, according to Christie Gillespie, director of agency services at United Way. Another 126,000 households have benefitted from food deliveries, she said.