Denny Sponsel, President, RJE Business Interiors

Growing up on the eastside of Indianapolis, Denny Sponsel really got to know the inside of Community Hospital East—getting stitches and having broken bones patched up. As an adult, he became acquainted with the hospital’s maternity unit, where his kids were born.

Most important, he grew up as part of a tight-knit eastside community, a community that in the 1950s went door-to-door raising money to build a hospital closer to home. In this part of town, Sponsel says, “people are very passionate about their community, what the community means to them and their upbringing.” The hospital is part of that community, and is, as he notes, quite literally the eastside’s community hospital. “I could go on and on about Community East.”

Sponsel has since moved to the southside but says he still holds onto his eastside roots. That’s why he and his company, RJE Business Interiors, chose Community East as recipient of a $10,000 gift that will sponsor the hospital’s patient navigator program.

The navigator program is, in a way, symbolic of the close relationship between Community East and its neighbors. It’s about making more personal connections with those who seek care at the hospital. “The program helps people navigate some of the challenges of health care and the complexities and difficulties of illnesses,” Sponsel says. “It shows them how to find the best care, and understand and work through things that are difficult at a time when a person is ill.”

It’s a mission that really speaks to Sponsel. While he fully recognizes the importance of technology and well-equipped medical facilities, he feels especially pleased that his donation is funding the personal touch of the navigator program. “When you have a very ill sibling or child or parent, your head is in a different place. This is to help people in those situations and help them work through that time.”

Sponsel’s donation is a gift of gratitude to the community that offered him opportunity. He has owned and been president of RJE Business Interiors since 2000. The area’s second-largest dealer of office furniture, RJE has grown from an $8 million or $9 million business when Sponsel acquired it to a $30 million business now, with 55 employees.

“I have had success in my life, and this is about giving back, contributing and helping the community be stronger,” he says. That’s why he is so drawn to the mission of Community East and its solid connection to the neighborhoods surrounding it. “If I felt that Community East was just another hospital that did not care about its communities and their people’s needs and the health of the area, I would not feel as strongly. I was looking for something that would bring value to the hospital and benefit the eastside.”