Karen Lambert, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Trustee of the Peyton Anderson Foundation
John F. McCard, Executive Director of The Macon Volunteer Clinic

The Peyton Anderson Foundation has awarded a transformative $500,000 grant to the Macon Volunteer Clinic (MVC) to complete the renovation of its new downtown location at 770 Walnut Street. This funding will enable MVC to expand its services for the working uninsured in the Middle Georgia region, providing critical health, mental, and dental care to more patients.

Since 2003, the Macon Volunteer Clinic has offered essential health services to nearly 5,000 patients who work but cannot afford the high cost of health insurance. The new downtown clinic, located in the former First Choice Primary Care building, will help MVC better address the healthcare needs of the community.

“We are extremely grateful to the Peyton Anderson Foundation for this generous grant, which enables us to relocate to a state-of-the-art facility,” said John F. McCard, Executive Director of Macon Volunteer Clinic. “Our vision has been inspired by our founder, the late Dr. Chapin Henley, who believed that all working individuals deserve access to quality healthcare in a setting that honors and respects their dignity as human beings regardless of ability to pay.”

Karen Lambert, president of the Peyton Anderson Foundation, emphasized the alignment between the Foundation’s mission and MVC’s work in the community. “In 2001, Dr. Chapin Henley and a dedicated group of volunteers launched the Macon Volunteer Clinic to address existing disparities in healthcare and to ensure that no one in our community is left behind. The Peyton Anderson Foundation was honored to invest in that visionary concept and we are equally proud today to support the Macon Volunteer Clinic with this grant. We believe in the clinic’s mission to provide vital healthcare services to those in need, and we are honored to contribute to their efforts. This funding will help ensure that more individuals in the Macon community have access to the care they deserve, and we look forward to seeing the positive impact the new facility will have on the health and well-being of the region.” 

The Peyton Anderson Foundation has been a steadfast supporter of the Macon Volunteer Clinic since its founding and has provided with this most recent grant over one million dollars during the past twenty-two years. Dr. Gary Bernstein, Chair of the Macon Volunteer Clinic Board and Chief Medical Officer at Piedmont Medical Center, said, “It has been a privilege to work with the Peyton Anderson Foundation as a partner in addressing the inequities in our healthcare system. This most recent grant will enable us to provide a facility that is worthy of our founder’s aspirations and help to ensure that all of those that work and serve our Middle Georgia community have access to exceptional medical and dental care.” 

In 2024, Macon Volunteer Clinic acquired the 770 Walnut Street building through a generous lease agreement with Mulberry Street United Methodist Church. The renovated location marks a new chapter in MVC’s commitment to the health and well-being of all working people who cannot afford the high cost of health insurance.