Westminster College has successfully met The Kresge Campus Center Challenge as part of a fundraising effort for the $14 million Campus Center.

Westminster College received a $600,00 challenge grant last April from The Kresge Foundation, Troy, Mich.  To meet this challenge, the College had to raise a corresponding $2.3 million in gifts and pledges by February.  A gift from the Pittsburgh-based Eden Hall Foundation enabled Westminster to reach the goal in January.

"To meet our goal, we created a Kresge Campus Center Volunteer Network to contact as many donors as possible, which included members of the Board of Trustees, the Westminster Fund Board, and a core of regional volunteers," said Gloria Cagigas, vice president for institutional advancement at Westminster College.  "These volunteers, and our student phonathon team, contacted alumni and friends of the College resulting in over 2,000 gifts."

The $14 million Andrew J. McKelvey Campus Center will be dedicated on May 16.

"The new 77,000-square-feet Campus Center will serve just about everyone," said Westminster College President R. Thomas Williamson.  "Students will benefit from an attractive new building that includes recreation and hospitality areas and expanded space for student organizations.  Westminster faculty and area teachers will benefit from the Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and alumni and area residents will enjoy new cultural and lifelong learning opportunities."

The Kresge Foundation grants are made to support construction or renovation of facilities.  The Foundation views its challenge grants as a means of building an organization's capacity to serve the public by broadening and deepening its base of support and involving volunteers in fundraising.

For more information, contact Cagigas at (724) 946-7368, or e-mail cagigagc@westminster.edu.