Mabee Foundation Makes Closing Gift For Interfaith Ministries For Greater Houston Renovation Project
The J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation, Inc., with offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Midland, Texas, has made the closing gift in the renovation phase of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston’s Meals and More capital campaign.
The campaign began in summer 2018 when Interfaith Ministries had the unique opportunity to purchase a building adjacent to its Midtown Houston campus that would allow the organization to grow its Meals on Wheels operation and reconfigure existing warehouse space to achieve greater efficiency in its operations. Interfaith Ministries is the largest Meals on Wheels provider in the state of Texas, serving five Southeast Texas counties including the Greater Houston/Galveston area.
The Mabee Foundation had initially issued a challenge grant for the project in fall 2019, contingent upon Interfaith Ministries raising a certain amount of capital funds within a 12-month period. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Foundation took the highly unusual step of funding the gap between the funds raised to date and the challenge goal.
Interfaith Ministries has now raised all the funds needed to renovate the new building for use and reconfigure existing space and has started its current fiscal year in a debt-free position. “We are so blessed,” says Interfaith Ministries President and CEO Martin B. Cominsky, “to have maintained and even expanded our Meals on Wheels services during the pandemic. The Mabee Foundation’s gift will allow us to start renovations this fall, which will increase our capacity to serve the community’s most vulnerable.”
Lead donors to the Meals and More capital campaign, both the building purchase and renovation phases, include: Fred G. Marshall, in memory of his wife Linda; the Robert L. Cook Charitable Fund; the Clark and Charlene Thompson Foundation; the W.T. and Louise J. Moran Foundation; and The Elkins Foundation. PBK Architects, under the leadership of CEO Dan Boggio, is providing design services for the project. Campus naming opportunities are still available, with funds supporting Meals on Wheels programming or Interfaith Ministries’ Maintenance and Growth Fund depending on donor intent.
The Mabee Foundation has been helping fund new construction, building renovations and the purchase of major medical equipment for non-profit organizations since 1948. Since its formation, the Foundation has made grants totaling over $1.2 billion. Limited to capital expenditures and the purchase of major medical equipment, the Mabee Foundation exclusively funds projects located in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas.
About Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston
A United Way agency, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston (Interfaith Ministries) brings people of diverse faith traditions together for dialogue, collaboration, and service, as a demonstration of our shared beliefs. Interfaith Ministries provides four main services: Meals on Wheels for Greater Houston and Galveston County delivers more than two million meals each year to homebound seniors and people with disabilities across five counties; Refugee Services, in conjunction with the U.S. State Department, resettles hundreds of refugees in Houston; Interfaith Relations and Community Partnerships provides community services fostering understanding, respect and engagement among Houstonians of all faiths; and Volunteer Houston connects volunteers in transformative projects with area nonprofits. For more information, visit https://www.imgh.org/.