FIRST ‘LAUREN HILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE GRANT’ BUYS ART SUPPLIES FOR KIDS WITH CANCER

LAWRENCEBURG, IND., May 7, 2015 – Lauren Hill used art as a diversion, a way of expressing herself and to socialize with others during her nine-weeks in Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It’s fitting that the Dearborn Community Foundation’s first Lauren Hill Make A Difference Grant be awarded to purchase arts and crafts supplies for the hospital’s Child Life Activity Center.

DCF recently awarded the $1,000 Lauren Hill Make A Difference Grant to provide the Child Life Activity Center with arts & crafts supplies to be used by youngsters of all ages as one of many diversional activities while they battle cancer.

“Lauren enjoyed arts and crafts as a way of expressing herself and as a diversion during her fight against cancer,” said Fred McCarter, DCF Executive Director. “The Foundation Board and staff are honored to help Lauren to keep making a difference in the lives of youngsters at Children’s Hospital who are fighting their own battles with cancer.”

Hill, a Greendale resident and Lawrenceburg High School graduate, died at the age of 19 on April 10 after a battle with terminal brain cancer. She inspired people around the world with her courageous efforts to live her dream of playing college basketball and to raise more than $1.5 million for The Cure Starts Now Foundation to fund cancer research to find a cure for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) and pediatric cancer.

The DCF board of directors established the Lauren Hill Make A Difference Fund in late November 2014 to honor Hill, who inspired others while fighting her own battle with cancer. The Foundation established the endowment fund with $100,000 and then the City of Lawrenceburg later approved adding another $100,000 to the endowment through a grant from the Lawrenceburg Community Grant Program, a grant program DCF administers for the city. Many other donations from individual donors have helped the endowment fund grow.

The Lauren Hill Make A Difference Fund will enable the current and future DCF Board and staff members to make grants in perpetuity to address the changing needs in the community, following Lauren’s fine example of philanthropy and her motto to “Never Give Up!”

“Through this fund, we hope to inspire others to follow Lauren’s incredible example of making a difference in the lives of others,” McCarter said.

During the Community Challenge Matching Campaign, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.’s GIFT VI initiative, qualifying donations to the Lauren Hill Make A Difference Fund will be matched dollar-for-dollar on a first-come, first-served basis, while matching funds are available. Checks written to the Dearborn Community Foundation with a note designating the contribution to the Lauren Hill Make A Difference Fund can be mailed to the Foundation office (or dropped off) at  322 Walnut Street, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025. Please contact the DCF office at (812) 539-4115 for more information.

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