No matter the forecast, there are needs in every community. For almost 40 years, the Hamot Health Foundation has grown its reach, from housing to schooling and more.

A view of Erie’s Bayfront is what Charles “Boo” Hagerty overlooks from his office.

"I have the best job in the world because we have the conduit between really kind people and really hard-working people with a need," said Boo. 

He is the president of the Hamot Health Foundation.

UPMC Hamot in downtown Erie is known for its medical reach, but inside these doors is the Hamot Health Foundation. It started almost 40 years ago, but its reach spans more than just medicine.

"We are flipping the script on how hospital foundations act and behave," said Boo. 

Instead of supporting endeavors solely inside the hospital, there’s a presence across the area. Like being a driving force behind ECAT, the Erie Center for Arts and Technology, where a construction trades program with job placement is rooted. After the Hamot Health Foundation purchased the former Wayne School, where it’s located.

It’s also the site of the UPMC Jameson at Hamot School of Nursing.

Career development and part of the foundation’s 4 C’s, including centers for excellence, services at the Hillman Cancer Center, and a fund named after a late Hamot nurse.

"This fund will pay a mortgage, it will make a car payment, it will pay an electric bill, it will fill a prescription for somebody who doesn’t have that basic need met," said Boo. 

The foundation is also acquiring property and starting a subsidiary to become a neighborhood development organization.

"We use the construction trades students to help renovate those properties," said Boo. "Now you have less blight and more quality affordable housing."

The nearly dozen-member Hamot Health Foundation is able to make these moves, with the help of community partners and donors, all helping people living right in our region take their next step.

And once the Erie City School District moves its headquarters, the Hamot Health Foundation hopes to use that building for future affordable housing units.