WesleyLife Foundation Gets Large Grant For Park Centre in Newton

A senior living facility in Newton has received a $373,977 grant from the Geisler-Penquite Foundation. The grant to WesleyLife Foundation will be used at Park Centre, which WesleyLife owns in Newton. The money will go to the Park Centre Good Samaritan Fund, which will assist residents when their financial resources are depleted through no fault of their own. A portion of the grant is also going to be used for the redevelopment of Park Centre’s memory care households.

In a statement, WesleyLife Foundation Vice-President Sophia Ahmad said “WesleyLife has received generous annual funding from the Geisler-Penquite Foundation for several years, and this grant will significantly impact those we serve in Jasper County for decades to come.”

The Geisler Penquite Charitable Corporation was created with a $7,000 investment in 1969 from the Jasper County farm family of John Edward and Gertrude Setzer Geisler and their children, Cecil Geisler Penquite and her husband, Loren, and Harold Geisler and his wife, Mavis. In accordance with the original donors’ wishes, the foundation’s board recently elected to disburse $16.5 million in remaining grant funds to 17 prior recipients, including WesleyLife Foundation.