Jill Schramm/MDN Shelly Weppler, foundation president of the newly named Inspiritus, participates in the unveiling of the new name and logo at an event Wednesday.

Inspiritus is the new name for the 25-year-old St. Joseph’s Community Health Foundation.

The foundation unveiled a new name and logo at an event Wednesday that brought together board members, former board members and representatives of recipient organizations and the former St. Joseph’s Auxiliary.

“We really kept coming back to three words, which were spirit, inspired and inspiration,” said board member Katelyn Denne. Inspiritus means “into life, into soul, to inspire, to move or guide by divine providence” and its Latin origin pays homage to the Catholic roots of St. Joseph’s,” she said.

“That’s what we are trying to do with our financial support. We are trying to inspire and support the groups that do all the great work that they do,” Denne said.

“A healthy community is a place where people have mental, physical, spiritual and emotional well-being. It is achieved through meeting the basic needs, providing clean and safe environments with stable ecosystems, quality education, transportation, health care options,” she said.

The logo features a heart, divided into four colored segments, with each segment representing an aspect of well-being. The colors correspond with colors of the foundation’s Twice Blessed logo.

One of the colors takes the T shape of the Greek letter tau. It resembles a cross, which is a nod to the faith-based organization and to the hospital’s Sisters of St. Francis, who used the symbol.

“That was the perfect way to incorporate the new going forward and then the old from the past,” Denne said. “The goal for this whole process was really, ‘how can we update and refresh and breathe life into the foundation while also maintaining our heritage?’ And we really feel like we’ve done an excellent job of that.”

Foundation President Shelly Weppler said extensive strategic planning, review and needs assessment went into the name change. Surveys found the foundation to be highly respected but more than half believed it was affiliated with the hospital and the Catholic church. Weppler noted her office received calls over the 25 years from individuals thinking they were contacting a hospital.

The new name and logo acknowledge the past while moving the organization forward, she said.

“It certainly is a rich history, and now we’re moving into a new decade, a new time,” Weppler said

According to a history recited at the event, in 1911, four sisters from Ohio arrived in Minot to supervise the 30-bed county facility, Northwestern Hospital. The sisters changed the name to St. Joseph’s Hospital, and three years later, St. Joseph’s came under sponsorship of the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, which sent sisters from New York.

In 1998, after 85 years of operating the hospital, the Sisters of St. Francis exited the mission as their numbers declined, their ages increased and health care became more complicated. The sisters sold the hospital to Quorum Health Group and chose to commit a significant portion of sale proceeds to the community. The community started St. Joseph’s Community Health Foundation with an initial $2 million. Its first grants were to provide defibrillators to first responders.

The foundation now contributes about $1 million a year into the community through grants to charitable organizations.