Congratulations to Garden Spot Communities, recipient of the 2025 Innovation Grant!
The MHS Association Innovation Grant is an annual grant of $4,000 awarded to one or more MHS Association member organizations to help fund a new and innovative program to enhance the mission of their organization. The funding for this grant is made possible through the Lebanon Fund, an endowed fund to be used to enhance institutional health programs.
The grant committee, which included Roy Teramoto, MHS Association Board Member, Jill Seifer, Oaklawn VP HR, Loralei LaVoie, OMRS CEO, Karen Lehman, MHS Association President & CEO, and Clare Krabill, MHS Association COO, reviewed and voted on the 2025 recipient.
This year, the grant was awarded to Garden Spot Communities for a program that accompanies persons who are not native to the United States through several avenues of their employment. The program seeks to nurture awareness of fulfilling and purposeful work, support the application process, onboarding, and orientation in a new role, aid in learning English, developing relationships with staff and residents, growing into roles, and advancing in their career. This initiative takes the extra step to acknowledge the difficulties non-native team members may face living, working, and raising their families in our community. This acknowledgment comes with a responsibility to build the bridge to enable someone from another country to grow their skills and advance into other areas of purposeful work. In the words of the applicant, this innovative program “works to know our community and staff and serve their individual needs to grow in English and navigate our culture in life-giving ways. Other-centered service is how we love. We don’t misstep when we walk in service of others.”
Congratulations to Garden Spot Communities, recipient of the 2025 Innovation Grant!