3 Doors Down recognized for contributing $50,000 to the Cherokee Indian Hospital Foundation since 2016

Friday night, members of the Cherokee Indian Hospital Foundation Board were invited to a VIP reception at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort as part of The Better Life Foundation’s, the non-profit organization started by the band 3 Doors Down, annual fundraising weekend. As part of the program, Hospital Foundation Development Director Brittney Lofthouse had the opportunity highlight the impact 3 Doors Down and The Better Life Foundation have had on the Cherokee community over the last several years.

The Cherokee Indian Hospital Foundation exists to support the well-being of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, enriching their lives through better health and healthcare outcomes. We do that by strengthening the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority (CIHA), including the individual clinics that comprise it.

By aligning forms of good will, whether from the corporate level or through individual donations, our aim is to find new sources of financial help that expand successful Cherokee health services, fund innovative and new projects, assess the greatest needs and help us meet them, and lift CIHA’s healthcare services to meet the highest national standards by keeping compassion and empathy in the forefront of all that we do.

The hospital foundation shares the better life foundation’s mission of being dedicated to igniting positive change in the lives of children and young adults in need of essential, basic-human rights such as  food, shelter and medical assistance. We share in the determination to enhance the lives of children and young adults in need in a holistic way.

The partnership with The Better Life Foundation that first started in 2016,  has allowed the hospital foundation to receive financial support to accomplish shared priorities of both organizations such as being able to purchase needed playground equipment for children to play and reconnect with their momma’s at our women’s home, a residential facility where women struggling with mental health and addiction disorders can feel safe and supported with their children while in recovery and working to rebuild their lives. We have been able to purchase toys for our emergency room for the hospital’s youngest patients to help ease the anxiety and stress of whatever brought them through our doors. The funding raised during the 2022 Gala was used to purchase a transit vehicle to support residents of both the men’s home and the women’s home and their children to help with transportation needs to and from critical locations such as doctor’s appointments, work, and school.

The hospital’s 2023 Gala raised over $100,000, with those funds being the first round of money earmarked to go toward launching the Carmaleta Monteith Education Endowment. The endowment is named in honor of one the Foundation’s board members who was in attendance Friday night. Carmaleta has spent her 87 years on earth living a life of exemplary service. With dreams and ambition rooted in education and a desire to never stop learning, Carmaleta has adapted and transformed her influence a dozen times over in her lifetime, always adjusting to meet the greatest needs of those around her. She is a waymaker. A creator. A visionary. And she does it all with a fervent love and passion for the Cherokee People

The Foundation has a little way to go before reaching the fundraising goal of building a $1 million endowment fund, which would ensure the endowment is as impactful as the Foundation has envisioned – but it is the board’s hope that once that is reached, the endowment will provide essential financial aid to hospital employees aspiring to excel in the medical profession through scholarships and funding opportunities for continuing education and professional development.

When looking over the support the Cherokee Indian Hospital Foundation has received from The Better Life Foundation over the last eight years, it totals more than $50,000.

On behalf of the Cherokee Indian Hospital Foundation, board members Yona Wade, Maggie Jackson, and Brittney Lofthouse presented a plaque to Brad Arnold, Chris Henderson, Greg Upchurch, Chet Roberts, and Justin Biltonen of 3 Doors Down, in recognition of their unwavering compassion and commitment to using their music and their platform to improve the lives of those most in need.