~ Donation Supports the Wassmuth Center’s Building Our Future Campaign to Construct a New Comprehensive Educational Facility ~

MERIDIAN, Idaho, SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 – Today, Blue Cross of Idaho and the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health announced a $250,000 contribution to the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights. The joint donation supports the Center’s Building our Future Campaign, a $2.5 million fundraising drive to construct the new Wassmuth Center comprehensive educational facility.

“This summer, we saw thousands of Idahoans come together to stand up for what is right, to address inequality and create sustainable change in their communities,” said Charlene Maher, President and CEO of Blue Cross of Idaho and Ralph Woodard, Chairman of the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health. “We find ourselves at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history and are resolute in what the Wassmuth Center stands for: a society where Idahoans take responsibility for promoting and protecting human rights; where everyone is valued and treated with equal dignity and respect; and where everyone’s human rights are a lived reality.”

“When our founders first created a nonprofit education center in 1996 for the purpose of constructing a memorial to human rights in Idaho, they could not have imagined the long-term impact of their efforts,” said Dr. Dan Prinzing, Executive Director of the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights. “The combined presence of the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial and the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights is a resounding commitment placed on the value of, and need for, human rights education.”

Once fundraising has been completed, the construction of the new 5,500 square foot comprehensive education facility will adjoin the Memorial and include virtual tours of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, exhibit and public meeting space, research library and human rights education programming.

“‘Respect for human dignity and diversity’ is more than a value proposition,” said Prinzing. “It is the mark we make that presents our community and state as a welcoming place to live; it is the mark of how and where to conduct business; it is the mark we secure for the next generation.”

“Our continued investments in Idaho to end preventable differences in health, social and economic well-being are part of what Blue Cross of Idaho has always stood for,” said Maher and Woodard. “We do not have the solution to solve inequality, but we are proud to help start that conversation today and to listen, learn and make our communities more inclusive.”