Muhammad Ali Center Receives $100,000 Grant From Anthem Foundation, Inc.
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Jude Thompson (right), Vice President and General Manager of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Kentucky, presents Ina Brown Bond, Chairperson of the Muhammad Ali Center, a $100,000 gift from the Anthem Inc. Foundation for use in developing educational programming, with particular emphasis on diversity initiatives. (photo by Wales Hunter)
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LOUISVILLE, KY (July 23 2004) – Anthem Foundation, Inc. has awarded a $100,000 grant to the Muhammad Ali Center to assist in developing educational programming, with particular emphasis on diversity initiatives.
An ongoing dollar-for-dollar challenge grant to the Ali Center previously announced in February by an anonymous donor will automatically match the Anthem gift, generating a total of $200,000 for the Center’s capital campaign.
Both the Ali Center and Anthem have missions that include helping people reach their potential—whether it is through personal goal setting, better health, or education. Anthem has a particular interest in promoting and supporting the ideals espoused by the Ali Center as they relate to training future leaders about empowering, communicating and serving diverse publics.
“Anthem is proud to support the Ali Center, as their values align with our mission to integrate core values of respect for all cultures, teamwork, integrity in decision-making, continuous improvement and innovation, and commitment to excellence in our daily work as we serve 1.2 million Anthem members in Kentucky,” said Jude Thompson, vice president and general manager of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Kentucky. “We are particularly excited about advancing educational programs that teach organizational change because our future success depends on our ability to understand and embrace the talent of all in our community.”
Michael J. Fox, president and CEO of the Ali Center, said, “Education is at the heart of our mission, so in receiving this generous gift from Anthem, we will heighten our ability to initiate significant Kentucky-wide programming that promotes respect, hope, and understanding among diverse groups of people.”
Ina B. Bond, chairwoman of the Ali Center, said, “Anthem’s financial commitment coupled with the matching challenge grant speaks volumes for the support that Kentuckians are showing for the Center’s development. This will bring us closer to reaching our project goal of $75 million.”
The Ali Center’s community challenge grant runs through the end of August. Eligible donations must be received from a source within the Commonwealth of Kentucky and can be either in the form of a cash payment or pledged donation spread out over five years or less. The anonymous donor will match up to $2 million. For more information on giving to the Ali Center, call (502) 584-9254.
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Anthem’s mission is to improve the health of the people it serves. The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, including The Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky Inc. dba Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, provide health care benefits to more than 12.5 million people. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is a subsidiary of Anthem, Inc. (NYSE: ATH); both are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Anthem is the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Colorado, Nevada, Maine and Virginia, excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. More information about Anthem is available at www.anthem.com.