Foundation hosts matching grant challenge for health care system

NAPLES — The Community Foundation of Collier County is supporting NCH Healthcare System with a $25,000 matching grant challenge to fund critical resources, equipment and supplies needed to support doctors and nurses.

According to a press release, donations will help provide additional ventilators, protective gear, mobile units, employee relief and more.

The NCH Healthcare System is a nonprofit health care system in Naples. It is a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. The system includes two hospitals — the NCH Baker Hospital and NCH North Naples Hospital — with a total of 713 beds. It also includes an alliance of 775 physicians and medical facilities in Collier County and Southwest Florida. 

The grant is provided from the Community Foundation's Collier Comes Together Fund to address the coronavirus outbreak. Donors can help NCH Healthcare System meet the challenge by donating online at nchmd.org/donate or by mailing a check to: NCH Center for Philanthropy, 350 7th St. N., Naples, FL 34102-5754. Donors are asked to indicate "CF Matching Fund" on checks and online donations.

"Now, more than ever, it is so important that our community come together to support Collier County in this time of crisis," says Community Foundation of Collier County President and CEO Eileen Connolly-Keesler in a statement. "Through this matching grant challenge with NCH Healthcare System, we can help provide much needed medical equipment such as ventilators to get ahead of the increased demand. Our residents never let us down. We know they will continue rally support when it is needed most."

The Community Foundation of Collier County is a tax-exempt public charitable organization, established in 1985. The foundation manages more than 750 funds, collaborates with hundreds of nonprofits, holds $225 million in assets and has distributed over $168 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and community programs since its inception.