Camp Lutherhaven is excited to announce that it has been awarded a grant of $557,468 from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help complete its three-year goal of raising the number of youth it serves by 15%, half of which to come from its local community.
This program is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s initiative, Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana. The aim of the competitive initiative is to help youth-serving organizations working throughout Indiana improve their abilities to promote the academic, physical, and social well-being of young people, ages five through 18.
Lutherhaven seeks to do this by training staff for success, attracting more youth and families, and investing and partnering with community teachers and youth leaders. Things in the grant initiative include enhanced marketing, increased staffing, bathroom renovations, parking lot expansion, audio/visual updates, staff development, program assessment/evaluation, and offering professional growth workshops to teachers and other youth leaders in northern Indiana.
“We’re so grateful for the generosity of Lilly Endowment and what this means for Lutherhaven’s ministry,” says Tim Jank, Camp’s Executive Director. “It’s not easy growing up in our culture today and youth need positive influencers from lots of sources. Positive youth development is defined by Youth.gov as ‘Positive Experiences + Positive Relationships + Positive Environments = Positive Youth Development.’ We are honored to be a place that so many youth call their camp home. But many youth in our community either can’t afford a Christian camp experience or don’t know we’re here for them. This grant will help us better invest in youth and the teachers and leaders who work with them every day.”
Camp Lutherhaven is one of 187 organizations receiving grants through Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana.
“Indiana’s youth-serving organizations are crucial to the healthy development of children and youth across the state,’ said Ted Maple, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for education. “The challenges these organizations have faced in meeting the needs of young people in recent years have made their work increasingly difficult. Lilly Endowment is pleased to support their efforts to strengthen programs and serve more youth more effectively.”
Lilly Endowment launched Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana Initiative in 2022 with an invitational round of grants to nine national youth-serving organizations to help them expand and enhance the work of their Indiana affiliates or chapters.
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. Although the Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, it maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.
