Couple donates $2M to FVCC project

Funding for Flathead Valley Community College’s new college center moved beyond the halfway mark Tuesday following a $2 million donation from the Stinson Family Foundation.

Whitefish residents Al and Lisa Stinson’s donation was the third in a series of large gifts made by local donors toward the college’s ONE Campaign, which consists of the construction of a $15 million, 50,000-square-foot college center and new 12,000-square-foot library and learning commons.

“The scope of the project is tremendous,” Al Stinson said. “It’s an evolution that has to take place for the college to continue to meet the needs of the growing community.”

The college center will include a large performance and lecture hall, a multi-purpose activity complex with two full basketball courts, an outdoor amphitheater and a reception hall with an exhibition gallery.

Once completed, the center will stand between the Arts and Technology building and the Early Childhood Center on campus.

“We are greatly appreciative of this incredible gift from the Stinson family and their continued commitment to the importance of education in our community,” FVCC President Jane Karas said. “Every gift makes a difference, and the entire community has been such a great supporter of the college over the last 50 years.”

A $2.5 million gift from the Broussard family toward the library and a $4 million gift from Paul Wachholz toward the college center, along with smaller miscellaneous community donations, brings the project’s total funding to $11.8 million.

Donations have fully funded the $3 million library and learning commons, and the college plans to break ground on the facility this spring with a grand opening scheduled for spring of 2019.

Fundraising efforts for the college center will continue into next year with construction scheduled to begin in the spring of 2019 and an opening planned for fall 2020.

For more information about the ONE Campaign or to make a donations, visit www.fvcc.edu/one or contact FVCC Foundation Executive Director Colleen Unterreiner at (406)756-3914 or colleenu@fvcc.edu.

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.