Jeffrey Klein & Sarah Dill, Tomball Regional Health Foundation and Glenn Buckley, Club PresidentTomball Health Foundation Supports
Numerous Local Health-related Agencies
For more than a decade, the Tomball Regional Health Foundation has been quietly giving millions of dollars to a variety of agencies in the area that are active in health fields.
Jeffrey Klein, the new chief executive officer of TRHF, described the organization’s work to the Rotary Club of Magnolia on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
The TRHF, which until recently was known as the Tomball Hospital Authority, has an endowment in excess of $100 million, which generates income that TRHF distributes to agencies in the area. The endowment originated with the sale of the Tomball Regional Medical Center in 2011. By law, the proceeds of the sale of a community hospital must be used to benefit the surrounding community by supporting health-related agencies.
Klein, whose grandfather was the first chairman of the board when the Tomball hospital was established in 1976, said that the hospital trustees decided to make the foundation a permanent body, rather than just doling out the sale proceeds immediately. The sale proceeds were invested and have grown over the years, providing an ongoing source of funds.
The foundation supports health-related organizations in northwest Harris County, Waller County, and the three zip codes in southwest Montgomery County, Klein said. Since 2012, TRHF has provided $26.5 million to support health-related agencies in the area.
TRHF tries to fill needs that the receiving groups cannot cover from their regular funding sources, Klein said, so applications are generally for specific projects, not general operations. Some of the better known agencies that have received funding recently include the Society of Samaritans, TOMAGWA Health Care Ministries, and Meals on Wheels. Dozens of others have benefited as well.
Klein noted that one of TRHF’s strengths is that, because it operates independently of other government agencies, it can make decisions quickly, moving to meet needs that appear on short notice.
