News
December 1, 2016Community Foundation Receives $7.25 Million Gift to Establish Rubin Community Health Fund
The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region is thrilled to announce that it has received an initial $7.25 million gift from the Hortense and Louis Rubin Dialysis Center.
This gift will create the Hortense and Louis Rubin Community Health Fund, which will focus on the health needs of the residents of New York’s greater Capital Region by supporting nonprofit organizations and programs dedicated to the prevention, management, and treatment of kidney disease and the associated co-morbidities of kidney disease.
The net assets of the Hortense and Louis Rubin Dialysis Center, accumulated during its years of operations and subsequent sale of their three dialysis centers and related real estate in September 2014, are expected to be in the $15-20 million range, after all outstanding financial obligations have been met. These remaining funds will be added to the Rubin Community Health Fund over the next several years, potentially doubling the amount of annual grants made from the Fund.
“The Foundation is honored to have been recognized by the Rubin Dialysis Center for our philanthropic expertise and unsurpassed community knowledge,” said John Eberle, President and CEO of the Community Foundation. “It will be a privilege to work with the Rubin Community Health Fund to award grants to effective, innovative programs benefiting Capital Region residents. The Foundation looks forward to stewarding this generous gift so that the Rubin Community Health Fund can benefit local residents for generations to come.”
“Thanks to the Rubin Community Health Fund, we will be able to do even more to help local people and families affected by kidney disease and related issues, which is a major health challenge in the Capital Region and throughout the United States,” said Jackie Mahoney, Vice President of Programs for the Community Foundation. “This Fund will allow us to make bigger, more impactful grants, with the potential to turn the tide on kidney disease and its causes right here in our community.”
“It was important to the Board of Directors of the Rubin Dialysis Center that the proceeds from the sale of the Center maintained the spirit of Louis and Hortense Rubin’s original gift,” said Neil Roberts, President of the Board of Directors of the Rubin Dialysis Center and a member of the Community Foundation Board. “The Community Foundation has a triad of protections to ensure the continuation of the innovative approaches of the Rubin Dialysis Center in treating, working to prevent the conditions that lead to kidney disease and helping those suffering from the effects of poor renal function. We’re pleased that the Rubin Community Health Fund will strengthen the region’s continuum of care for people currently affected by kidney disease and related issues, and work to aggressively address the causes of renal failure.”
“Our parents, Horty and Lou Rubin, loved this community and showed this love by their deeds and actions. Many families have been served by the Rubin Dialysis Center and many more will benefit from the Fund in the future,” said Betsey Rubin-Rosenbaum, Ellen Briskman, and Robert Rubin, Hortense and Louis’s three children. “The Troy Center began because the Rubins saw the enormous challenges patients and families of patients needing dialysis experienced. We are appreciative of the efforts of the staff, administrators and Board who nurtured the growth of the three centers and created and expanded the innovative home-based program, thereby allowing them to flourish.”
