Dienstberger Foundation gives $305,000

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

DELPHOS — It was a festive evening at the Delphos Club as the Arnold Dienstberger Foundation handed out checks totaling more than $300,000 to 28 local organizations and agencies (click here for the full list of grant awards).

Foundation Board President Rick Miller, who was master of ceremonies for the event, noted that, despite the stagnant economy, the foundation was able to increase its donations from a then-record $300,000 in 2010 to $305,000 this year.

Miller also gave a brief presentation on Mr. Dienstberger, who founded two nursing homes in Delphos, beginning in 1966. It was the sale of those facilities, in 1998, to Vancrest Health Care Center that provided funds that are the basis for the Dienstberger Foundation.

“The monies, what I’ll call the seed money, that came from the sale of those two facilities is what helped to establish and make the Dienstberger Foundation what it is today,” Miller noted.

The foundation, which has also added another $160,000 in contributions from five other donors, now has assets of more than $6 million and has distributed more than $3.3 million to Delphos community organizations in the past 13 years.

Miller also presented plaques to representatives of two families that gave money to the foundation.

Miller also spoke briefly about what the foundation has meant to the Delphos community and to members of the foundation board because of its positive impact on the community.

“We read and we watch and we see a lot of the things that are negative going on in our world of ours, but when we can get together as a community like this and do good things, it is a good feeling, a very special feeling,” Miller said.

Following hors d’oeuvres prepared by the women of Trinity United Methodist Church in Delphos and entertainment by local radio personality Bob Ulm, who also serves as president of Delphos City Council, Dienstberger Foundation board members began passing out checks to community organization and agencies that included the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Habitat for Humanity, Delphos Police and Fire departments, Delphos Stadium Club, the Delphos Canal Days Committee, Delphos City Schools and St. John’s School, the city parks department, Delphos Kiwanis Club, the St. Vincent DePaul Society and many others.

Each projects affected by the donations included parks improvements, toys and food for needy children, services for community senior citizens, support for a local festival and police and fire equipment purchases and improvements.

Miller noted that the annual donation event arose out of a decision by foundation board members to increase awareness of the organization in the Delphos community.

“We wanted people to know what the Dienstberger Foundation was doing because it’s such a nice thing,” the board president noted.

Those receiving the checks often spoke about what they planned to do with the money, but all thanked the foundation for the generous donations, which allow organizations to do projects they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.