Archive for ‘Fundraising’

A second anonymous donor has added $1 million to the matching challenge announced last week.

The combined $3 million challenge gift will match 1:1 any gift or pledge made by June 30 to the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center at Abilene Christian University.

If fully matched, the gifts would push fundraising for the $21 million facility to more than $17.5 million.

For more information about giving to the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, contact Don Garrett by email or by calling (325) 674-2213.

A $2 million challenge grant from an anonymous donor has the potential to push fundraising for the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center well past the $15 million mark.

The gift will match on a 1-to-1 basis all gifts made to the facility before June 30.

If fully matched, the gift in combination with those it matches would bring the fundraising total for the building to $15.56 million. Construction on the $21 million center at Abilene Christian University is scheduled to be completed early this fall.

“This is a tremendous first step in our final push to raise the funds for this state-of-the-art center,” said Phil Boone, vice president for Advancement. “Not only will those who give double the effects of their gifts, but they will be giving in honor of a tremendous couple and in support of our exceptional students, who will benefit immensely from this wonderful building.”

The 113,000-square-foot facility, named in honor of the beloved former president, Dr. Royce Money, and his wife, Pam, is an expansion and renovation of the Gibson Health and Physical Education Center, which was built in 1968. The Student Recreation and Wellness Center, which was designed with significant student input, will feature cutting-edge technology and equipment, an elevated jogging track, a new pool and wet classroom area, and numerous other amenities. It will also house the Medical and Counseling Clinic for Care in an effort to focus on all aspects of students’ well-being.

Above is a video of this month’s topping-out ceremony for the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center at Abilene Christian University. If you’re having trouble seeing this video, you can watch it here.

You’d be hard-pressed to find many relics of Viking heritage in West Texas, but for the next few days, one sits atop the newest building at Abilene Christian University.

In a ceremony born from ancient Scandinavians’ love for evergreen trees and carried through the generations to America by the immigrant ironworkers who helped build New York’s tallest skyscrapers, ACU and its contractor celebrated Friday the installation of the top-most piece of steel on a sprawling new wellness center.

“Mark this date,” said Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president and dean of Student Life. “Feb. 18, 2011, is one to remember. Today marks an important milestone in the life of the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center.”

Crews lifted the tree into place using the massive crane that has dominated the Abilene skyline for months — and which has captivated campus residents as it has lifted beam after beam of steel into place on the $21 million facility — as members of the ACU community, ranging from students to members of the Board of Trustees, applauded during what is known in the construction industry as a “topping-out” ceremony.

The topping-out beam itself was visible from the parking lot in front of the construction site, its purple hue standing out from its neighbors at the top of the structure’s east face. The beam spent nearly a week on the campus mall earlier this month, allowing hundreds of students, faculty and staff to sign their names before crews hoisted it to its place 35 feet above what will soon be a new leisure pool in the facility. The signatures, however, will soon be invisible; the beam is set to be covered with fireproofing material and buried within the walls of the wellness center, which is scheduled to open in late August or early September.

Phil Boone, vice president of Advancement, introduces four members of ACU's Board of Trustees, all of them among the lead donors to to the wellness center (l to r): Dale Brown, Billy Busch, Rick Wessell and April Anthony. Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president and dean of Student Life, and Students' Association president Samuel Palomares look on.

The brief ceremony also recognized some of the facility’s lead donors to date: April Anthony, Dale Brown, Billy Bush and Rick Wessell, members of the Board of Trustees who collectively have given more than $8 million to the project.

“We’re inching closer to going over the $15 million mark” in funds raised for the facility, said Phil Boone, vice president of Advancement. “Our next topping out ceremony will come when we go over full funding.”

The 113,000-square-foot expansion of the Gibson Health and Physical Education Center has been enormously complex, said Brian Cook, vice president and Texas division manager for HOAR Construction, the contractor for the project. Cook cited as an example the pouring of a concrete base above the new pool at the top of the building, 35 feet above ground.

Thus far, crews have expended more than 100,000 man-hours in constructing the facility, Cook said.

“We have had no major incidents or injuries,” he said, “and that’s an amazing success so far.”

The evergreen tree — which Thompson said he sees as a symbol of “the life God gives us,” as well as the university’s mission to “nourish mind, body and soul” through the wellness center — ultimately will be planted on campus, leading Thompson to address ACU’s grounds crews.

“Do all you can to keep the tree alive,” he joked, “or it will kill my analogy.”

Photos by Gary Rhodes.