Rush County Community Foundation

Westminster is a Level 4 Paths to QUALITY™ childcare provider, indicating the highest level of quality with national accreditation.

With a focus on “play as learning and learning as play,” they nurture each child as the unique individual they are. They describe their approach as “a Christian atmosphere that supports children’s growth and development as lifelong learners in a safe and caring environment.” Their staff are trained in brain development, trauma informed care, and positive guidance.

Rushville will be Westminster’s 6th location, with two in Marion and additional sites in Wabash, Fort Wayne, and Portland, Indiana (coming in September). Westminster accepts CCDF and On My Way Pre-K vouchers, making the program accessible to families with financial need. Look for announcements in the coming months regarding childcare enrollment and employment opportunities. Information will be available on their website at westminsterpreschools.org.

The Smiths moved to Rush County in May of this year when her husband, Nick, secured a position at Diamond Pet Foods. They are thrilled to be living closer to his family and for the opportunity to own land. Their dream has been to raise their two boys alongside farm animals and a garden of their own. They recently purchased an old farmhouse with acreage and the requisite seven layers of wallpaper, which is keeping them busy. “We’re calling it a restoration, not a remodel,” she smiled.

Very friendly and approachable, Smith has a talent for making others feel at ease, even as a newcomer. Her self-confidence shines through authentically yet unassumingly. She’s immediately likeable.

Building community is a core value that drives Zuzana Smith. And one that meshes perfectly with this decades-long, community-driven dream about to become reality.

“If I had to pick one word to describe myself, it would be ‘host,’” she reflected. “Serving others and fostering welcoming, friendly environments where people can connect and share new experiences truly energizes me. Nurturing community is about more than just bringing people together; it’s about creating a space where individuals can feel valued and supported. It’s about building a foundation where every member can thrive, learn from one another, and feel secure,” she shared.

“As I step into the role of the Director at the Love Community Center, I am excited to bring this passion and experience to the forefront. Being the first director is both an honor and a significant responsibility. It means laying the groundwork for a legacy that will last for many generations,” she added.

Smith will oversee the operations, working closely with the partner agencies located inside the LCC. She will hire, train, and work alongside staff and volunteers. She will manage the budget, accounting, and all human resources needs. She will also promote the facility and fundraise for its sustainability.

Ensuring satisfaction and fostering the well-being of guests, partners, staff, and volunteers alike will be the heart of her work, a calling that’s important to her both professionally and personally. She purposefully chose her office space so it will be centrally located and highly-visible – literally. One wall is all windows, a fitting metaphor for the transparency and openness Smith will bring to her role.

“I want the community to know that my door is always open. I am here to listen, support, and work together to make the Love Community Center a vibrant and inclusive place for everyone. I’m excited to meet you all and I look forward to the wonderful things we will achieve together.”

Smith has a deep-seated passion for the outdoors. She enjoys hiking, biking, paddleboarding, and learning new sports, like skiing and mountain biking with her eight-year-old son. “He challenges me to push my boundaries and conquer my fears,” she grinned. She also enjoys cooking and entertaining friends and family.

Since moving to the area three months ago, she has explored ways to get involved with and enjoy the community. She and her sons volunteer at the Rushville Animal Shelter, cleaning cages, walking dogs, and loving on the animals. She and her husband enjoy attending concerts at Riverside Park, creating a new tradition with their boys. They’ve explored many of Indiana’s state parks and natural areas, too.

Born and raised in Slovakia, a country bordered by Poland to the north and Ukraine to the east, Rush County instantly felt like home to Zuzi.

“It has a wonderful, serene quality that reminds me so much of my homeland. The expansive fields and the community’s connection to the land take me back to my childhood, where I spent many happy hours on my grandpa’s farm,” she observed. “From him, I learned the values of hard work, dedication, and the importance of nurturing both land and community.”

Smith’s vision is for all who walk through the doors of the LCC to feel at home, too.

Construction of the Love Community Center is slated for completion by the end of 2024. Expect an opening date to the public in early 2025. Smith will begin her position on September 3. Look for employment opportunities in the coming months.

“We’ve been fortunate to be able to give to Rush County projects throughout the years,” noted Heather Herdrich Meckes. “But this project is pretty special to us as our family loves spending time around water. We are very grateful to every single person who has touched this community center and pool project, helping it to become such a great asset for our community and available for everyone to enjoy.”

“On behalf of all of Rush County, I want to extend sincere appreciation to Bill, Debbie and all of the Herdrich family for their generous support of our project, not just in recent weeks, but for decades!” added Rush County Community Foundation (RCCF) executive director Chris May.

Bill, a former RCHS swim coach, has been teaching people to swim since he was 13 at Bear Creek Boy Scout Camp. He started the RCHS Swimming Fund in 1994 to support the school swim team and for the past 30 years has been involved in various efforts to make a pool and community center a reality.  Beyond aquatics-based interests, the Herdrich family has created funds at the Rush County Community Foundation to support RCHS Varsity Scholars, Boy Scouts of America, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church and the Thomas F. Marshall Scholarship.

The Herdrich Family Aquatic Center and associated fitness center, including cardio, weights, group exercise, walking track and basketball court, will occupy nearly 29,000 square feet of the 77,000-square-foot Love Community Center presented by Jay and Christie (Kile) Love.

The facility, under construction and likely to open to the public in early 2025, will also house the Rushville Public Library, Rush County Community Assistance food pantry, Westminster Preschools childcare, and social services offices, along with numerous meeting rooms, public spaces and outdoor plazas.

The naming rights gift made by the Herdrich Family will be held at the Rush County Community Foundation in sustainability funds for the future of the Love Community Center.  Public contributions are welcome to RCCF’s Ebert H. & Bessie M. Schroeder Fund for that purpose.

For information regarding major gifts and naming rights within the Love Community Center, contact RCCF executive director Chris May at cmay@rushcountyfoundation.org or call (765) 938-1177.

The lanes will be on the right and the open swim area on the left.

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“We are excited to see this project becoming reality for Rush County and are thrilled to help ensure its future financial footing,” notes Jay Love, a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist. “This project will address many of Rush County’s most pressing issues – food insecurity, convenient access to comprehensive social services, and health outcomes. It will improve the quality of life with many positive educational, social, and recreational opportunities.”

“The possibilities this facility will allow my hometown and the benefit it can provide to all Rush Countians makes it a worthy cause for us to support,” adds Christie (Kile) Love, a 1975 graduate of Rushville Consolidated High School. “We have great pride in my family’s roots in Rush County and this project. Our ability to help the community center move forward to fill needs in the community is very rewarding.”

The Love gift will be facilitated through the existing Ebert H. and Bessie M. Schroeder Fund at the Rush County Community Foundation. The fund was created in 2020 by Christie’s mother, Wilma Jo Kile, in the name of Christie’s maternal grandparents, with the specific intent of sustaining the community center for generations to come.

“Words cannot describe the energy and excitement Jay and Christie’s gift brings to this project,” states RCCF executive director Chris May. “Their generosity and leadership in seeing the impact this facility and their gift will make for Rush County is an immense and much-appreciated gesture. On behalf of all Rush Countians, I offer a heartfelt ‘thank you!’”

The Love Community Center presented by Jay and Christie (Kile) Love, will be a 68,500 square foot facility housing a new fitness center including an indoor pool, a new 70-plus seat childcare operation, the relocated Rushville Public Library, the relocated Rush County Community Assistance food pantry, and multiple social service offices. Additionally, it will offer multiple community meeting rooms and incorporate outdoor gathering spaces.

It occupies the former Walmart building at 1850 N. Main St., Rushville and is slated for completion in late 2024.

For more information on the facility, read here. Contributions toward operation and sustainability of the Love Community Center are being solicited through the Rush County Community Foundation. Contact RCCF executive director Chris May at (765) 938-1177 or cmay@rushcountyfoundation.org to learn more about how you can support the project.

Guests huddled inside a tent with the overflow under umbrellas. The ceremony began with John McCane, Rush County Economic and Community Development Corporation Executive Director and REC Center Committee Chairman, naming and thanking the numerous individuals and organizations involved. He announced the naming partnership from Rush Memorial Hospital. There is no more appropriate description for this project than “community-driven.”

Chris May, RCCF Executive Director, noted how that change began with the efforts of former RCCF Executive Director, Alisa Winters. “None of us will understand the headaches and the hurdles that Alisa has gone through and over to get our community to this point.”

He shared the memories and words of RCCF Board Chair, Karen Brashaber. “The GIFT VII application process required data to be gathered, cooperating partners to be identified and onboarded, budgets to be established, preliminary architectural drawings to be developed, and documentation to be written in a way that would allow the grant committee to see not just the need but the vision. Alisa could have read through the requirements of this opportunity and quietly placed the proposal under a pile of other work and the community would never have known of this possibility. We’re here today because Alisa did not throw the opportunity away. She along with the community foundation staff, board of directors, and many others took on the daunting task of completing the grant proposal and requirements to submit the application to the GIFT VII Large Scale Grant Opportunity on Friday, March 13, 2020, also known as the day the world would stop.”

On December 1, 2020, Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded RCCF a $5million grant that would jumpstart the project. This was the largest award made from this state-wide initiative. “Lilly Endowment saw something from the outside that we already knew from the inside – how much this was needed and the impact it would make,” he shared.

He also thanked Wilma Jo Kile and her visionary gift that created the Ebert H. and Bessie M. Schroeder Fund at RCCF to support the sustainability of the REC Center. With construction costs funded, this will be the next focus.

A slate representatives from local and regional organizations would share their thoughts, as well. Rushville Public Library’s Board President, Anna Jo Richards, said their excitement over a new facility accessible to all and the opportunities for expansion of materials and programming. “As we move into the next phase, I only see us becoming a bigger partner and team player in our community. Although we will be sad to leave our historic building, the possibilities bring us joy.” She closed with a quote from late President John F. Kennedy, Jr., ‘Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.’”

Fred Glass, CEO of Gleaners, an Indianapolis-based partner of Rush County Community Assistance food pantry, praised their innovative work. Gleaners contributed $500,000 to RCCA’s space at the REC Center, their largest grant ever.

Darilyn Bedel, Board Chair of RCCA and key collaborator on the REC Center concept, beamed. “I am ‘over the moon’ excited! This will be a game changer for our community. To have a place that improves the health and well-being of a community and to have had nothing but a dream or vision five years ago to what we have today is nothing but incredible. I could not be more proud to call Rushville home!”

Are you noticing a trend? Organizations throughout the state realize that Rushville and Rush County are leading the way in rural Indiana with a bold vision for the future. Rooted in collaboration with a “can do” attitude, we are creating a track record of success.

Scott Barnes, County Council Member, recalled asking himself if the County’s contribution was the best use of money. “For me, it was a no-brainer,” he said. “We need more opportunities for the youth. These kids need every opportunity they can get.”

Initially, the project was to be built in two phases – the social service component first, then the recreational side. Rushville Mayor Mike Pavey knew it needed to happen concurrently. “Every time we did a study about where we go in the future, the community came back and said, ‘Where’s the community center?’” he recalled. “We did a poll every two years, and the highest rated thing was a community center. The community has kept it alive, they felt like it’s the gap we need. That quality of life and quality of place. It’s what they feel like is a piece that needs to be here to keep them attracted to the community and also feel that others who consider moving here can do so without compromise.”

He also praised the vision of those who began the dream more than 20 years ago. He said, “They pulled this to a point and couldn’t get it further, but they kept it alive.”

“This is a perfect example of what people don’t understand that happens every day in this community. There was a ton of partnering. The City, the County, the Foundation, the Library and all the other organizations. This is a very visible investment in our community that says Rushville and Rush County is a thriving and vibrant place that we want to live in.”

“I am proud that this is not just a building. We are talking about the architecture of this building will be different from anything you see in rural Indiana. It is an art. The concept is not what you see in most community centers. It is innovative and it is bold. I think it will re-tune and re-elevate the expectations of people in our community.” He closed with hopeful words. “It will encourage what we call ‘community collision’. There will be people of different professions, social backgrounds, generations, and economic status. That diversity will make Rushville and Rush County a better place, a more understanding place, and a more tolerant place.”

And don’t we all want to be a part of that?!

Our many thanks to our partners, funders, committee members, day of speakers, community members past and present who have kept the dream alive, Darrin and Thomasina McGowan for photographing, the RCCA board for handling the hospitality, the City of Rushville Street Department for readying the grounds, and to you for all the ways you have and continue to show your support!

Share the project with others, make a gift to support the operations, and follow along with the progress. It’s really happening!