Rush County’s new community center – a dream for decades, in the planning stages for four years, and under construction since September 2023 – will officially be named the “Love Community Center presented by Jay and Christie (Kile) Love.”

The couple has made a seven-figure donation, which will serve as the lead gift of a capital campaign for operation and sustainability of the facility through the Rush County Community Foundation (RCCF).

“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.