Clinic has offered free health care to the uninsured since 1999
Providence, RI – During a ceremony at the State House today, Governor Lincoln D. Chafee thanked business leader and philanthropist Ernie Boch Jr. for his gift of $25,000 to the Rhode Island Free Clinic. Boch, President and CEO of Subaru of New England, presented Mark Gim, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the R.I. Free Clinic, Marie Ghazal, the Free Clinic's Chief Executive Officer, and other Clinic leaders with the check.
The funds will be used to enhance the Free Clinic's mission to provide free, comprehensive medical care and preventive health services to adults who have no health insurance. The clinic also serves as a training site for aspiring health-care professionals.
"On behalf of the State of Rhode Island, I commend Ernie for his generosity to an important health-care nonprofit, which since 1999 has provided services to those who cannot afford them," Governor Chafee said. "As many of you know, in 1999, R.I.'s First Lady played an integral role in the creation of the Free Clinic, which is located in South Providence and continues to be an asset to the community."
"I am honored today to stand alongside Governor Chafee here in the great State of Rhode Island, where I was born! Right here in Providence, Rhode Island! On behalf of Subaru of New England, I want to donate $25,000 to the Rhode Island Free Clinic. I'm proud to contribute to the exceptional and comprehensive health care that the Rhode Island Free Clinic provides to uninsured adults. The Rhode Island Free Clinic has an ever present and vital need to help Rhode Island residents have a better quality of healthcare. I'm delighted that Subaru of New England can step up today and lend a helping hand," Boch said.
Clinic Board President Mark Gim said, "Rhode Island Free Clinic relies entirely on donations and volunteers to give care to uninsured, low-income adults who need it most. Thank you, Ernie for your inspiring gift, which we're honored to accept on behalf of our volunteer medical providers all over the state. Together, we'll turn this $25,000 gift into over $125,000 worth of medical care for adults who need it most. We're delighted to welcome Ernie as our newest friend. Ernie shows us all that when we work together, we can make a real difference in the health and vitality of individuals, and our state."
In 2013, the R.I. Free Clinic provided 9,000 patient visits to over 2,000 patients through its active statewide corps of over 700 volunteers, a lean professional staff of seven full-time equivalents, and seven AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers. With an annual budget of $1 million, the Clinic leveraged more than $5 million in additional donated health services and medical supplies to provide vital medical care to Rhode Island's uninsured, working poor and low-income adults. Established in 1999 by Rhode Island's First Lady Stephanie Chafee, RN, the Clinic was honored as one of the nation's top 25 volunteer "models with promise," in Shirley Sagawa's The American Way to Change: How National Service and Volunteers are Transforming America (2010). Last year, the Clinic received the 2013 Business Excellence Award-Nonprofit Social Service Agency from the Providence Business News. For more information on the Free Clinic, visit www.rifreeclinic.org.
Ernie Boch Jr. is a business leader, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Boch Enterprises is a multi-billion-dollar group whose interests include the distribution of Subaru vehicles throughout the six New England states, multiple retail auto dealerships, which include Toyota, Honda, Ferrari and Maserati. Stay connected with Ernie on Twitter @ErnieBochJr.
For additional information please contact: Peggy Rose at 617-477-9802, 617-835-7673, or peggy@peggyrose-pr.com.