A Legacy of Impact

Community engagement, systemic change, and transformative impact are the fundamental goals of the T. L. L. Temple Foundation, which made a generous $ 5 million gift in May 2016 in support of a new birthing center for CHI St. Luke’ s Health Memorial in Lufkin.

For more than 50 years, Temple Foundation trustees have carried on the work of Georgie Temple Munz, who created the private family foundation in 1962 in honor of her father, Thomas Lewis Latane Temple, an East Texas lumberman. He founded the Southern Pine Lumber Company, which later became Temple Industries.

Munz had one simple wish for the people of deep East Texas.“ She wanted to use her money in the form of this foundation to, very simply, improve the human condition and quality of life,” said Buddy Zeagler, former executive director.“ And, the Temple family in general has had a multigenerational involvement to carry on that legacy.”

In addition to honoring their long history of support for the health system now known as CHI St. Luke’ s Health Memorial in Lufkin, the Temple Foundation focuses on funding impactful initiatives and working directly with community stakeholders to develop transformative programs that can change lives.

Their Impact Lufkin program is a perfect example

T. L. L. Foundation Growth and Focus of their mission in action. With a relatively small gift, the Temple Foundation is working with residents of north Lufkin to create a community program that connects them to vital services they both need and want, including health care, tutoring, job training, and more.

“ You can’ t go in there and tell a community what they need,” said Laura Squiers, deputy executive director.“ They know what they need, so we listen first and act second.”

At the root of the Foundation’ s commitment to transformative initiatives is one belief: when one community prospers, everyone prospers.

“ The reality is we live in a small community,” says Squiers.“ We’ re all neighbors.”