And they matched every dollar, and then some.
More than $1.25 million was donated by the Wednesday, Dec. 31 deadline toward The Nuxhall Foundation project, which brings the capital campaign total to more than $6.6 million, enough to start construction.
The total campaign has a $12 million goal, with $10 million needed for construction and $2 million for a maintenance and operational endowment, according to The Nuxhall Foundation.
Credit: Matt Grimes
Credit: Matt Grimes
“This overwhelming total was a team effort from a community of givers who get why our mission matters — and more importantly, they realize that The Hope Center is a dream worth believing in,“ said Kim Nuxhall, president and board chairman of The Nuxhall Foundation. ”As gift after gift after gift came in, it was a reminder that The Hope Center is a need for our all-stars. And we can’t wait to build it for them.”
The Nuxhall Foundation was able to exceed the $1 million goal with the help of a $500,000 gift from Dave and Vicki Welsh’s family charitable fund. The pledge was to have the arena gym floor named “The Welsh Family Court.”
“Walt and the board of The Hatton Foundation lit a fire throughout our entire donor base and our community with this gift,” said Nuxhall Foundation Executive Director Tyler Bradshaw. “They motivated givers in Greater Cincinnati and beyond to learn more about the project, to give, and to share it with others who could move the project forward.”
The Hope Center, a dream project of the late Joe Nuxhall, will be a facility just for athletes with physical and developmental disabilities while expanding The Nuxhall Foundation’s mission of opening up opportunities for athletes with disabilities to play every sport during every season.
Among other things, the facility will feature an arena for new sports and events, a multipurpose recreation room with accessible fitness equipment and play opportunities, a community room with seating for more than 150 guests to host health and wellness programming, and a fully equipped concession stand with workforce development opportunities for the special needs community.
Credit: Matt Grimes
Credit: Matt Grimes
Additionally, it gives the Butler County Special Olympics a permanent home, and it will serve as the Nuxhall Archives, a permanent display of Joe Nuxhall’s life and baseball and announcing career. It will also be The Nuxhall Foundation’s permanent headquarters.Nuxhall said donors helped position the foundation named for his dad, Joe Nuxhall, the former Reds pitcher and announcer who died in November 2007, well positioned to finally give the Nuxhall special needs all-stars “a permanent home-field advantage.”
It’s not yet known when construction will begin.
“We are experiencing unparalleled momentum for this project,” said Nuxhall. “In the coming year, when we are all standing in that field together, I know that my dad will be looking down with so much pride in his community for what they’ve accomplished.”
HOPE CENTER DONATIONS
To further support The Nuxhall Foundation’s Hope Center project, donors can give online at nuxhallmiracleleague.org/donate, by Venmo to @nuxhallfoundation by mail at The Nuxhall Foundation, P.O. Box 18146, Fairfield, Ohio 45018.
People can set up a three-year pledge at nuxhallmiracleleague.org/pledgehope.
Further giving opportunities should contact Nuxhall Foundation Executive Director Tyler Bradshaw at info@nuxhallmiracleleague.org.
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