Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis nonprofit ships nutritious meals across the globe
PLAINFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — The Indianapolis location for nonprofit Lifeline Christian Mission is bringing Hoosier hospitality to areas across the globe with high hunger and malnourishment.
Lifeline Christian Mission ships was first founded forty years ago and keeps their Christian mission statement at the center of the work they do.
“To drive toward holistically healthy individuals and communities, we and our leaders focus on providing access to basic Christian education, increasing availability of affordable quality health care, expanding economic opportunities, and sharing God’s message of love and hope,” their site says.
In addition to their mission, their core values include: loving generously, creating possibilities, leading humbly, serving passionately, and igniting adventure.
As a part of that mission and those values, they ship meals to 11 different countries and many of those meals are packed at the Indianapolis centre.
“Some of them go locally and globally. They were in eastern Kentucky with the floods that took place,” Indianapolis centre director Danny Smith said. “Currently, they are in Ukraine with the Ukraine-Russian war.”
Smith says roughly 35,000 meals are shipped out of the centre, located in Plainfield, each month.
Each one of the meals is carefully put together during “meal pack events.”
Each event is customizable, and it is common for local businesses, schools, and churches to bring their teams out the the centre to pack meals.
“It’s just a really cool way to get the guys interacting and give back to the community,” Director of Quality and Training at Miller Pipeline Jeremy White said.
Events begin with a quick training session that covers the mission and specifics of the packing.
After training, every attendee suits up in a hair net and gets to work.
Bags are filled with a nutrient dense recipe, one that is packed with protein and fulfills 75% of a child’s daily veggie needs. One bag contains six meals.
After each bag is packed, it is then loaded into a box. 36 bags fit into a box. The boxes are then placed on a pallet that holds 14,256 meals.
Finally, the boxes are stacked inside a massive shipping container. Each of the 40-foot shipping containers carries over 285,000 meals.
The containers don’t just bring hope in the shape of a meal, though, they also bring business.
“Over a period of six to nine months, it gets converted to whatever is needed in the field,” Smith said. “It could become a health clinic, or a restaurant, or a coffee shop, or a dentist office or a woodworking shop.”
As the nonprofit works to continue spreading the light of Jesus, they encourage anyone to get involved by attending a meal packing event. For additional information, click here.
IndyGo serves 22,000 riders daily who rely on it for jobs and healthcare. The funding is voter-approved and separate from road budgets.
IndyGo paratransit services have possible 57% rate hike
Ryan Malone appreciates IndyGo paratransit rides. He has vision impairments and MS. He talks about the rides and the proposed 57% fare increase.
The April 14 letter titled, “Indianapolis doesn’t prioritize pothole repairs” raises a fair frustration shared by many drivers, but it misrepresents priorities, ignores dedicated funding streams, cherry-picks numbers and overlooks how IndyGo delivers broad, measurable value that helps roads and the city overall.
The 2026 Indianapolis city budget directs unprecedented funding to roads. The Department of Public Works’ most recent capital plan included $218 million for transportation infrastructure in 2026, in addition to key investments in additional snow removal and road maintenance equipment. DPW’s transportation capital funding has nearly tripled since 2016. Since that time, the city has resurfaced 1,279 lane miles and strip-patched 1,169 more.
The city is prioritizing basics; roads got a massive boost even with tighter revenues.
The state funding formula has disadvantaged Indianapolis by using two-lane road mileage and ignoring urban complexity. But House Enrolled Act 1461 shifts to a lane-mile formula and provides $50 million extra annually to Marion County — and state law restricts those funds to construction and reconstruction of local streets.
There are several points aimed at IndyGo that are worth correcting and adding important context the public should understand about this critical city service.
The claim that IndyGo’s $432 million budget “could go a long way toward streets” is the most misleading. The 0.25% income tax was voter-approved in 2016 — with nearly 60% voting yes — specifically and exclusively for public transit. These locally raised dollars leverage up to a 400% federal match, multiplying their impact several times over and ensuring Indianapolis captures funding that would otherwise go elsewhere. Diverting them would break a voter promise.
The “less than 2% uses the bus” stat is a classic distortion. IndyGo’s 2025 ridership included 6.7 million trips, or nearly 22,000 riders Monday through Friday. Transit serves disproportionately low-income, senior, disabled and car-free residents who rely on it for jobs, healthcare and school. It isn’t a luxury — it’s mobility infrastructure.
Public transit isn’t in competition with roads; it complements them. Every $1 invested in public transit generates $5 in broader economic activity. The Red Line alone delivered more than $7 per $1 invested, and IndyGo’s BRT network has already attracted more than $1.2 billion in corridor development.
By completion of the Blue Line, IndyGo will have paved more than 90 miles of Indy streets and built or repaired more than 1,300 ADA ramps. Nearly 7 million riders take cars off the road — fewer vehicles mean less congestion and less wear-and-tear on pavement, directly reducing potholes.
Potholes are real, but scapegoating IndyGo distracts from the actual balanced progress underway. Indianapolis is a world-class city with a great future, and the best is yet to come.
Richard Wilson is treasurer of the IndyGo Board of Directors.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — Purdue University has received a $20 million commitment from the Ricks Family Foundation to establish the Purdue Institute for Healthcare Systems Innovation at the Indianapolis campus.
The institute in the Mitch Daniels School of Business aims to improve health care efficiency and effectiveness, the university said in a news release issued Wednesday afternoon.
Dr. Christina Ricks and her husband, David A. Ricks, the chair and CEO of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., are the primary leaders of the foundation.
James “Jim” Bullard, a dean for the Daniels School of Business, said in the release, “Considering the health care situation in the U.S. today, there is a clear need for rigorous, market-informed research that challenges conventional thinking and drives new solutions. This institute will allow Purdue to lead that work and make a lasting difference.”
As Purdue works to develop its relatively new Indianapolis campus, the university recently announced that plans for a 12-story apartment building on recently acquired canal property in Indianapolis are now on hold as the university develops its campus, Mirror Indy reported.
This story was formatted for WISHTV.com using AI-assisted tools. Our editorial team reviews and edits all content published to ensure it meets our journalistic standards for accuracy and fairness.
INDIANAPOLIS — A woman was critically injured in a shooting on the northeast side of Indianapolis Tuesday night.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers were called to the 5500 block of East 41st Street around 8:45 p.m. to investigate a shooting. When police arrived at the scene, they located an adult female with injuries consistent with gunshot wounds.
Per IMPD, the victim was transported from the the scene to a local hospital in critical condition. Police reported that hospital staff later provided them with an update that indicated the victim remains in critical condition.
Investigators believe the shooting occurred inside a residence on 41st Street. One shell casing was found in the front yard of that residence near its driveway. Police do not believe that stray shell casing is related to the shooting in any way.
Law enforcement detained a person of interest during its investigation of the shooting. IMPD has not yet provided any of the detainee’s identifying information like sex, age or name.
Police do not believe the shooting poses any ongoing threat to the public. Investigators are, however, still encouraging area residents to call IMPD at (317) 327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at (317) 262-8477 to pass along any information they may have on the shooting.
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