“Any time we make contributions to nonprofits, we consider it an investment. An investment in the facility and an investment in the community,” Gunlock said in an exclusive interview with the Dayton Daily News.
Gunlock and his family’s foundation, known as the Greener Pastures Foundation at the Dayton Foundation, today announced the awarding of a $3 million unrestricted grant to Dayton Children’s in support of mental health and wellness for Greater Dayton youth.
Gunlock founded RG Properties, a local company that manages more than 10 million square feet of commercial real estate throughout Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky.
Gunlock turned his attention to supporting Dayton Children’s after seeing the fast-paced world children are growing up in now.
“I’ve been thinking about the plight of particularly young kids, not just (because of the pandemic), but just because of the how children are being raised today, and it’s a much faster world,” Gunlock said. “Some of these kids get left behind, and we as community members have an obligation to get them back on their feet.”
Before committing to the $3 million donation to Dayton Children’s, Gunlock needed a little inspiration to give him that final push, and he found it with the Mathile family.
In September, Dayton Children’s announced the Mathile Center for Mental Health and Wellness will be the name of its new $110 million mental health building while also announcing a new multimillion-dollar campaign called, “Do More So All Kids Thrive.”
This will be the first time the Mathile name is being used as a namesake for a building, which the family hopes will further help reduce stigma around mental health, they said in September.
The Mathile Family Foundation, a longtime regional philanthropic organization, is donating an undisclosed amount of money to Dayton Children’s to help build the facility. The patriarch of the Mathile family and former owner and CEO of the Iams pet food company, Clay Mathile, died Aug. 26, 2023.
When Gunlock saw the Mathiles make this committment to Dayton Children’s mental health facility, he knew it was a project worth investing in, he said.
“When I saw my friend Mike Mathile’s gift, I called him and had breakfast with him and said, ‘I’m in,’” Gunlock said. “... They gave me the last push.”
About $65.7 million has been raised toward Dayton Children’s Do More campaign goal of $75 million. The Mathiles’ donation also included a promise from the family to match up to $3 million for the Do More campaign.
Gunlock unlocked that promise and hopes this will continue to inspire others.
“I hope that somebody will see this and will stir them and say, ‘Hey, yeah, why not?’” Gunlock said.
“The Greener Pastures’ investment is another example of the generosity of our Dayton community for what we believe is the crisis of this generation,” said Debbie Feldman, president and CEO of Dayton Children’s. “Mental health facilities are expensive to build and having the support of philanthropy to help us make it a reality is absolutely critical. Dayton Children’s is overjoyed to receive this very generous investment.”
Dayton Children’s began construction of the building in May 2023. The Mathile Center for Mental Health and Wellness will double the available space for mental health patients by 2025.
The $110 million building also received a $25 million allocation from the American Rescue Plan, as well as a $2 million donation from CareSource. The project will continue to transform a hospital campus that has seen more than $375 million in new investment in the last decade.
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