By IAN MUNRO
Daily News-Record 6/2/21
The closed Harrisonburg- Rockingham Free Clinic is in the process of turning all its assets over to the Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham, according to a May press release.
“The board is committed to being good stewards of the community-invested assets entrusted to us, to ensure all who need health care in our community have access to it,” said Free Clinic Board President Josh Hale in the release. “The Community Foundation has the resources and the expertise to appropriately shepherd these assets to best meet health care needs in our community.”
The Free Clinic, which provided medical care for low-income uninsured adults, closed at the end of 2020. The organization cited funding problems, fluctuations in the patient base, volunteer availability and knock- on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for closure.
Hale said the decision on what to do with the assets was “not easy.”
“But we came to the eventual conclusion that gifting the assets to the Community Foundation was the best option to serve the broad needs of our community,” he said in the press release.
The Free Clinic had a total of $ 4.3 million in net assets and fund balances, according to the nonprofit’s tax filing with the Internal Revenue Service for 2020, which covered from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.
One of the assets being turned over is the Free Clinic’s downtown location at 25 W. Water St., which was assessed at $1.5 million this year. The 13,566-square-foot building includes one- story and three-story portions and is on 0.17 acre.
The Community Foundation is bringing together a five- person panel made up of local leaders, including from the city and county, to find a nonprofit to donate the space to, according to Revlan Hill, the executive director of the Community Foundation.
“If we do not find an organization to donate the building to, we will sell the building,” she said.
Money the organization would receive from a sale would go toward a Community Foundation health care endowment for unmet health needs, such as mental and dental services, Hill said.
“The Free Clinic Board is pleased to entrust these assets to the Community Foundation, which is deeply engaged in our community and has the expertise to ensure they will be used to honor The Free Clinic’s legacy of providing health care to the most vulnerable in our community,” said Hale in the release.