Jan. 9, 2007
 
Yeager Alumni Meet Shott Foundation Challenge in Under 6 Months
 
By HNN Staff
 
Huntington, WV (HNN) — In less than six months, Marshall University Society of Yeager Scholars alumni met a financial challenge that was expected to take three years. The result is the addition of $150,000 to the Yeager Scholars program.
 
From June to early December 2006, 42 Yeager Scholars alumni and their families contributed $50,055 to the “Triple Your Investment for Future Yeager Scholars Campaign,” Bob Galardi, Director of Major Gifts for the Society of Yeager Scholars, said today.
 
Raising the $50,000 guarantees an additional $100,000 from the Hugh I. Shott, Jr. Foundation, which provided the creative $2 to $1 challenge grant last summer.
 
“The Shott challenge truly ignited our alumni and their relatives to come together and meet the challenge,” Galardi said. “The Shott Foundation challenge resulted in producing an entirely new group of donors to the Yeager program.”
 
Galardi said the fact that Yeager alumni raised more than $50,000 in such a short time proves that Society of Yeager Scholars alumni are becoming a “vital force” in providing private funds for the program. Galardi said because gifts continue to come in, the total amount raised by Yeager alumni might surpass $75,000.
 
The Shott Foundation accepted all gifts from the Society of Yeager Scholars alumni, their parents and families made in the alumni’s names. The campaign included current Yeager Scholars attending Marshall.
 
The Shott Foundation was established in 1984 by newspaper publisher Hugh Ike Shott, Jr., for the betterment of his hometown of Bluefield, W.Va., and the state of West Virginia. The Foundation has made donations in the past to Marshall, including the establishment of one of the first endowments made to the Yeager Scholars program at Marshall in 1986.
 
For more information on the Yeager alumni’s response to the challenge grant, contact Galardi at (304) 696-3336.