(Radio Iowa) – An unusual phone message led to a five MILLION dollar grant for the Siouxland Community Health Center of Sioux City. Mari Kaptain-Dahlen, the C-E-O of the non-profit health center, says the initial call came in mid-September from a woman who would only talk to her. “I was pretty skeptical because I get messages like that every week, but the woman had a very intriguing name, which has to remain anonymous, so I decided to give her a call,” Kaptain-Dahlen said. “When I returned her call and introduced myself, she said to me: ‘Thank you for taking a leap of faith to call me back. Many people don’t.'”

The woman Kaptain-Dahlen was speaking with represents the Yield Giving Foundation — established by MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bazos. In the past three years, Scott has given away about half her fortune to non-profits around the world. Kaptain-Dahlen says this is how the foundation representative she spoke with in September announced the grant:

“This woman said to me: ‘Well, Mary, we have fully vetted you and we have fully vetted your organization and we have fully vetted your leadership team,'” Kaptain-Dahlen said yesterday, “and she said: ‘We have found you to be a thriving organization and I am notifying you that Yield Giving has identified you as one of the funding recipients for 2023.'”

Last year, the Siouxland Community Health Center served 35-thousand patients who spoke 52 different languages. The center’s C-E-O credits the more than 350 people on staff and board members for embracing the non-profit’s mission. “Your commitment to make sure that mission is achieved with every person who comes through these doors and the empowerment of that mission that you have cultivated with your team and all of our staff — that is what has brought us to this moment,” she said.

Andrea Buckley, chair of the center’s board of directors, also spoke at yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) news conference. “We’re going to create a task force, hopefully come up with a real catchy name for it,” she said with a laugh, “but it’s really an opportunity for us to listen to our stakeholders, listen to our partners, listen to our community and figure out how we can use this gift.”

Yield Giving’s website indicates the foundation has donated more than 14 BILLION dollars to over 16-hundred non-profits around the world so far and at least seven are located in Iowa.