Mercy Hospital in Portland receives $250K grant toward campus consolidation

File photo Northern Light Mercy Hospital is consolidating services and operations at its Fore River Parkway campus, shown here. The project has received a $250,000 boost from the Lunder Foundation.

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By Staff

Northern Light Mercy Hospital has received a $250,000 capital campaign grant from the Lunder Foundation to fund the Portland hospital’s ongoing campus consolidation project.

The grant, made in honor of late Maine attorney Ralph I. Lancaster Jr., provides a one-to-one match up to $250,000 for all capital campaign gifts, according to a news release Thursday.

Lancaster, who died in 2019, was a Bangor native who practiced law for nearly 60 years at Pierce Atwood in Portland. Over the course of his career, he built a reputation as one of the most respected trial lawyers in the country, according to the firm.

He also was a longtime supporter of the hospital, and served as an honorary co-chair of its capital campaign committee.

“Ralph Lancaster was a dear friend who devoted his life to helping those in need. He was deeply committed to Mercy Hospital and their mission of compassionate care for all. That was the essence of his life’s work. We wanted to honor Ralph at a place that meant the world to him and inspire others to support the capital campaign he helped launch and lead,” Peter and Paula Lunder said in the news release.

The Lunder Foundation, based in Portland, is a private charitable organization that makes grants in support of higher education, the arts and health care.

Mercy said it has raised more than 90% of the $20 million goal for its capital campaign.

Part of the Northern Light Health system, the 230-bed general hospital last year broke ground on a project to consolidate services and operations from its State Street location to an expanded campus on the Fore River Parkway in Portland.

Construction is scheduled to be completed later this year.