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IVCC extends ag center fundraising, hoping to spare reserve funds · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  IVCC extends Ag Center fundraising, hoping to spare reserve funds. Written by
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  Emily Beebe. This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  to you by Everlet. Illinois Valley Community College has reached the $2.5
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  million fundraising goal for its new agricultural education center, and now it’s
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  asking the community to help cover the rest of the bill, according
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  to a news release.
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  More than 60 donors helped the college’s foundation hit its primary Ag
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  Forward goal for the Dr. Alfred E. Wisgoski Agricultural Education Center, Foundation
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  Executive Director Tracy Beattie said in the release, support she called critical
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  to meeting unmet need from escalating construction costs.
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  Donations from early supporters, businesses and community partners, combined with federal and
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  state grants, covered a portion of the construction costs. The college had
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  expected to supply the balance from its reserve funds.
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  The campaign’s newest phase, Growing Together for Our Future, is meant to
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  reduce that reliance on reserves, which the college said has kept it
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  fiscally stable through a century of operation.
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  The current estimate is that about $1.8 million will still be needed
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  to cover building costs, but lessening the impact on those reserves will
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  allow IVCC to continue to improve facilities throughout campus, IVCC President Tracy
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  Morris said in the release.
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  All money raised in the second phase will go directly to the
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  building project. The extension also opens expanded giving levels, letting more community
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  members join what Morris called a legacy project.
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  We truly appreciate the community’s support of the Dr. Alfred E. Wisgoski
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  Agricultural Education Center and our Foundation campaigns, Morris said in the release.
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  We look forward to this next phase where we Grow Together for
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  Our Future.
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  To learn more about the center and the fundraising effort, visit www.ivcc.edu/agforward
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  or contact Beattie at 815-224-0550.