Wick Avenue corridor project gets $250,000 donation

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The John S. and Doris M. Andrews Trust has donated $250,000 to help fund improvements to the Wick Avenue corridor at Youngstown State University.

The gift to YSU will be used specifically to pay for enhanced lighting along Wick Avenue on the university’s east side.

“On behalf of everyone at YSU, we thank the Andrews Trust for this generous gift that will significantly upgrade a major gateway to campus,” said YSU President Jim Tressel. “We are really appreciative that Mayor John McNally partnered in the presentation with this great cause.”

The Wick Avenue project, a collaboration between YSU, the city of Youngstown and other tenants along the Wick Avenue corridor, includes repaving the roadway, placing all utilities underground and improved lighting. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2016.

“We are happy to be a part of a project that will help enhance this important, historic thoroughfare through the YSU campus and into downtown Youngstown,” said Paul Williams, Andrews Trust trustee.

The Andrews Trust has provided many gifts to YSU, including $2 million for construction of the John S. and Doris M. Andrews Student Recreation Center and $1 million to establish the John S. and Doris M. Andrews Chair in Accounting in the Williamson College of Business Administration.

Natives of Jamestown, N.Y., the Andrewses moved to the Mahoning Valley in 1932 to open an office for Associated Financial Services Corp. Andrews spent 45 years in the financial services industry and also served on the board of directors for Commercial Shearing and Stamping Corp.

The couple was very active in the community, serving in various capacities for the American Heart Association, American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and St. Elizabeth Health Center.

Doris Andrews died in 1993, and John Andrews died in 1999.