The Blessing Foundation is a charity dedicated to improving the care and lives of people within our local community. We support individuals and families on their healthcare journeys, nursing students for their education and Blessing and Illini hospitals and clinics working to improve the care they provide.

Charity Begins at Home: The Blessing Foundation Difference

From large projects to small expenses, we do what it takes to help our community. The Blessing Foundation provides funding for:

  • Individuals and families: When you become ill, your household bills don’t disappear. If you are a Blessing patient without the financial resources to cover basic expenses, we may be able to help. We have built wheelchair ramps, paid electric bills, provided gas money and bought new car tires for qualified individuals and families.
  • Students: Our nursing students are the future caregivers at Blessing. We provide financial aid to most student nurses at Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing & Health Sciences.
  • Departments: Every year, we provide grants to Blessing and Illini departments and clinics to improve care at their facilities. We have funded major renovations and new equipment at Blessing and Illini hospitals.

Blessing Foundation Funds, Scholarships and Grants

We oversee numerous funds and scholarships donated by generous individuals and Blessing Health System employees. We disburse grants from our investments to improve healthcare facilities. Learn about how to choose a fund or scholarship to support.

Funds to support individual and facility expenses

We have 42 funds for Blessing Hospital and 8 funds for Illini Community Hospital. Read more stories about helping our patients and their families.

  • Restricted funds: Donors specify how these funds can be spent. For example, the Merrick Family Medical Crisis Fund subsidizes travel, lodging and food expenses for families of children who have been transferred to a facility with a higher level of pediatric care in another town.
  • Unrestricted funds: Unrestricted donations to the Blessing Foundation go to fund general improvements in healthcare across Blessing Health System, or the funds can go into the Caring Club which was created by Blessing employee and community donations. This fund supports patients on their health journeys, regardless of the particular illness or condition, when the help they need cannot be provided through any other specific fund.

Scholarships for nursing students

Thanks to individual donors, we provide financial aid to most students at Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing & Health Sciences. For this 2022-23 academic year, $1,323,000 was awarded to Blessing nursing students in grants and scholarships.  Students are matched with the most appropriate scholarships for their situations and needs, and currently there are 44 scholarships.

Department grants

Every year, Blessing Health System departments apply for additional funding from the Blessing Foundation to improve their facilities, update or purchase equipment or enhance their services to patients. For 2022, the Blessing Foundation provided $1,850,000 from its investments for such grants. Learn about our grants and projects.

Why I Give to the Caring Club

Rachel Killam, AGPCNP-BC, Cardiology

“It doesn’t take long after working in direct patient care to realize that patients’ and their families’ needs often extend beyond what they are capable of financially.  In my practice this can range from having a digital scale in the home of a patient with heart failure to having the money for gas to see a specialist in St. Louis.  I am honored to donate to a fund that allows me to do more for my community and my patients beyond what I am able to do in the clinic.

I was also pleased to recently learn that the Blessing Foundation funds assist in even more ways, such as providing assistance to future and current students at Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing & Health Sciences.  I will gladly continue to give to the Caring Club for years to come.”

Donate

Our online donation form makes it easy to choose a fund and make a gift in your name or in honor of a loved one. Make your donation today. If you would prefer to mail your donation, send it to the address below:

The Blessing Foundation
4939 Oak Street
PO Box 7005
Quincy, Illinois 62305

Contact Us

For more information about the foundation or to discuss a donation or gift, call (217) 223-8400, ext. 4800, or email us at blessingfoundation@blessinghealth.org.