Resch Foundation Makes Grant of $185,000 to YSU
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Marion G. Resch Foundation made a grant of $185,000 to Youngstown State University Thursday, bringing its philanthropy to more than $2 million since it began funding YSU scholarships in 2003.
The executive director of the foundation, Brian Wolf, saluted the Farmers Trust Co. and its president and CEO, James H. Sisek, for its stewardship of foundation funds that made the grant possible.
The president of YSU, Cynthia Anderson, recalled her long friendship with Wolf as she thanked the Resch Foundation for its generosity. In 2007, the university named the Center for Student Progress in her honor in recognition of her support, Anderson said.
The Resch Foundation funds scholarships for good students “but not necessarily 4.0 students,” Wolf noted. Scholarships are based on both merit and need.
Resch Foundation support has three categories: Resch scholarships that fund a student’s tuition up to $5,000 a year, a second for students out of the Resch Strategic Fund that helps as many as 50 students at any time by paying up to $1,000 of their annual tuition, and Academic Achievers limited to graduates of Warren G. Harding High School who choose to attend YSU.
Speaking briefly on how they benefited from Resch support were Dana Mooney, a graduate of Boardman High School, and Annalise Walkama, a graduate of Poland High School.
Mooney, an art major, has a 3.26 grade point average and will graduate with a B.F.A.
Walkama, a history major, has a 3.65 GPA and will graduate this spring after only three years as a full-time student at YSU. While at Poland, she took advantage of Senate Bill 140 to earn some 50 credit hours at YSU. “The Resch Foundation has meant a lot to me,” Walkama said, “and even more to my parents.” She hopes “to give back to YSU after graduation,” she said.
The vice president for university advancement, R. Scott Evans, used the occasion to report on donors’ generosity to YSU so far this year. The annual fund is up 20% to more than $1.4 million compared to a year ago, he reported. The number of donors is up 10% and exceeds 3,000. And major gifts – defined as contributions of $10,000 and more – are up 400% and have reached $8 million.
Marion G. Resch, 1911-2003, was a graduate of The Rayen School and Lake Erie College. Her husband, Paul, was a 1933 graduate of the Youngstown College law school and a stockbroker. While the Resches did not have any children, “They were always interested in the success of the next generation,” Wolf said.
Mrs. Resch, he continued, “was humble in all her endeavors” and especially interested in helping young people and making it possible for them to afford a college education. YSU is just one of the colleges and universities in the region that enjoys her philanthropy.
She established the foundation that carries her name in 2003.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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