WELLNESS CENTER YSU is closer with grant

The fund-raising campaign is nearing the $10.2 million mark.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University is one step closer to building a 65,000-square-foot recreation and wellness center on campus.
The Kresge Foundation, an independent, private foundation that provides grants to nonprofit institutions worldwide, has awarded a $600,000 challenge grant to YSU's campaign for the $12 million student recreation and wellness center.
A YSU press release said the campaign is nearing the $10.2 million mark, leaving $1.8 million to be raised. Should the university raise $1.2 million more, Kresge has agreed to provide $600,000 to put the campaign over the $12 million goal, the release said.
YSU plans to meet the Kresge challenge by the end of June 2004, with support from alumni, friends, students, businesses and organizations. The project has seen several major contributions.
The release says the John S. and Doris M. Andrews Trust, named after the late financier and his wife, has pledged $2 million to the project. Other major contributions include $1.5 million from John and Denise DeBartolo York, $1 million from the Ward and Florence Simon Beecher Foundation, $750,000 from Anthony and Mary Lariccia, and $500,000 from D.D. and Velma Davis.
Plans for the center
Catherine Cala, associate director of university development, said the center is a strategic component for the university's recruitment and retention program. The center will be attached to the west end of Kilcawley Center and will include a fitness center, climbing wall, weight room, jogging track, racquetball courts and a spiritual meditation room.
The recreation and wellness center will be the first building on the YSU campus constructed entirely with private funds since Ward Beecher Science Hall in 1967. The release said YSU will be the only public university in Ohio with a recreation center built entirely with private funds.
The Kresge Foundation's board voted last week to approve YSU's grant request, and the university was notified this week. This will be the first Kresge award to the university. YSU also will be the first Ohio public university in three years to receive a Kresge award.
Sebastian Kresge founded the S.S. Kresge Co. in 1899 and started the foundation 25 years later from his personal funds.
Since then, the foundation has awarded nearly 8,100 grants totaling $1.8 billion to nonprofit organizations involved in education, health care, human services, arts and humanities, science, nature, and environment.
Groundbreaking for the building is expected to take place in the spring of 2004, and the building is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2005.