? With Mabee Foundation gift, groundbreaking targeted for next May, completion in 2016.
Tabor College?s Signa?ture Campaign received a major boost to its fundraising efforts with confirmation that the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation in Tulsa, Okla., will donate a $1 million gift to the school for the Center for the Arts.
Nearly 1,000 donors have contributed to the $8 million needed to receive the Mabee Foundation gift.
The announcement of the Mabee award came during Sunday night?s performance of the Messiah.
?It?s the generosity of so many people, their sacrifices and the commitment of so many that this is becoming a reality,? Tabor College President Jules Glanzer said to a capacity crowd at the Hillsboro Mennonite Breth?ren Church.
The audience responded with thunderous applause.
?In two years, you?ll be hearing the ?Messiah? in the new Shari Flaming Center for the Arts,? Glanzer said.
The $1 million gift will allow the Center for the Arts project to move forward much more quickly than originally expected.
?We are planning, tentatively, to break ground in May 2015 with completion in August 2016,? Glanzer said.
To date, Tabor alumni and friends have donated $12.8 million toward the $16.2 million Signature Campaign goal.
?We are so pleased that so many people have contributed to this campaign and to the future of Tabor College,? said Ron Braun, vice president of advancement. ?We will be able to serve a need for our students and our community that has never been met.?
With this phase of the campaign finished, $3.4 million is still needed for enhancements, endowment for the new facility and the annual fund, which covers operational needs.
?There is still a lot of work to be done,? Braun said. ?We are up to the challenge knowing that the majority of this campaign is behind us.?
The Signature Campaign is the largest fundraising project in Tabor?s history.
?The Signature Cam?paign is an ARTS campaign,? Glanzer said, referring to the acronym for ?attracting students, retaining students, transforming students and sending students? into the world. ?The Signature Campaign will help make this happen.?
