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Raising money for anything can be a challenge, but when you have a strong belief in how it will benefit others, the job is not so difficult.
A reminder came from Paul Michael "Mickey" Pohl Wednesday.
"I was trying to retire as a lawyer with a global law firm, and we have a condo in Florida," said Pohl, who has had a long career with Jones Day.
His plans changed a little after a stop by the Rev. Dave Pivonka, TOR, president of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a visit that included breakfast and some time spent admiring the Intercoastal Waterway.
"I knew there were discussions about whether to have a capital campaign. I was trying to retire, hit golf balls and sit in the sun," Pohl added. "I said, I think you need a capital campaign. The university has done great things, and we can make it happen. I told him I would give the advancement office some ideas, and at some point I'd write a check.
"On the way out the door, he said, 'Thank you for volunteering to chair the campaign.'"
That effort, the Rebuild My Church Capital Campaign, started with a goal of $75 million, and coincided with the school's 75th anniversary. After that total was pretty easily surpassed, the goal kept increasing, and, as Pivonka pointed out, the campaign has now raised more $110,400,000.
Pohl and Pivonka were speaking during the official opening of the university's Christ the Teacher Academic Hall and Pope St. Paul VI Conference Center. That complex will, among other things, serve the school's engineering, business and nursing students. The first new academic building on the school's campus in more than 20 years, it stands as the centerpiece of that capital campaign.
"This is something everyone has been yearning for for almost a decade, and we have been building ourselves up to that," Christin Jungers, dean of professional programs at the university, said after the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
In addition to state-of-the-art classrooms and labs, and offices for faculty members, adjuncts and admission and enrollment management, the facility includes a chapel, a full-service kitchen and an event space that can accommodate 500 people for presentations and 325 people for banquets. All are important components of the project.
"The constant growth of the on-campus student population made it necessary for Franciscan to expand academic spaces for student instruction while, at the same time, add space for medium-scale campus events to take pressure off of the Finnegan Fieldhouse," explained Benjamin Whetmore, vice president of MCF Architecture. "Those two needs were fused together to make this one new facility."
MCF is no stranger to the campus, having designed buildings for the university for the past 28 years.
More than anything, though, the expansion work on the campus is all about improving the educational experience.
"For me, this is an opportunity to see a dream come true," Jungers added. "First, for the students, and also for the faculty to know that they can have a space where they can provide the best educational training that we want to be able to provide to our students -- for them to be able to have that space where they will have the chance to practice the skills that they will need to practice as nurses.
"Our engineering students will be able to practice using those tools that are a part of their professional trade in a way that will really help prepare them to go out into the world to serve, to serve the community, to serve others and to serve God," she added.
Members of another record first-year class moved onto campus Thursday. Pivonka said the chance to get a quality education and the school's faith-based mission help make it an attractive option.
"I think when we see some of the craziness that's going on in the world, and when you pay attention to what's been happening on university campuses across the country during the past six months, it's just a crazy time," Pivonka explained. "So, we have a population of young people and their parents who say they want something different.
"They're saying they want some place where they can trust their kids will be taught and be formed -- not just indoctrinated, but where they're really going to be educated. So, I think when you see that with the faith component, people are finding that more attractive," added Pivonka, who as a member of the Class of 1989 and the first alumnus to serve as the school's president, is able to offer a special perspective.
Jungers agrees.
"I think it's a combination of two things. It's a chance for students to develop themselves -- their minds, their skills and their dispositions that will help them fulfill their vocations and do it in an environment where they feel their faith is not just welcomed, it is encouraged and it is supported," she said. "It's a place where, as Father Dave said, they can bring the faith and reason component together."
During his remarks before the dedication, Pivonka pointed out the amount of money two of the region's biggest faith-based institutions -- the university and Trinity Health System -- have invested in the community through expansion and renovation projects. That work makes the area an attractive place for people looking to make a move.
"There's a lot going on," Pivonka said after the dedication. "One of the things that we are seeing is that people are moving in. If anything positive came from COVID, I think it's people realized that they can live wherever they want and do their work, and Steubenville is growing. They see wonderful people; they work hard and it's a good community. There's life, and new things are happening -- they just say they want to be a part of that."
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times. He is a former member of the board of advisers at the university.)