Foundations and Giving

We invite you to join the many generous people and organizations that have donated money for much of the equipment and services offered at Polinsky Medical Rehabilitation Center.

The Miller-Dwan Foundation is the designated charity for Polinsky Medical Rehabilitation Center.

For more than 30 years, the Miller-Dwan Foundation has funded many projects at Polinsky, including the pediatric rehabilitation program. The rehabilitation center owes much of its continued excellence to the foundation’s Van Gorden Fund. The fund honors Mary Van Gorden, who was hired as the center’s director in 1955. She thought she would stay in Duluth for a year or two but she retired from the center 25 years later. Van Gorden supervised the center’s move to its present home and saw the center begin an evolution that continues today.

The Van Gorden fund has paid for equipment for patient evaluation and therapy, staff education and new programs. The fund and the Miller-Dwan Foundation have donated more than $2.1 million to Polinsky programs.

Polinsky center also receives financial assistance from the St. Mary’s Foundation. It has donated more than $80,000 to the center.