Gene and Annie Whitaker donate $10,000 to SFCC’s capital campaign

The State Fair Community College Foundation recently received $10,000 from Gene and Annie Whitaker of Sedalia for its Stronger Workforce, Greater Community capital campaign to help build the Olen Howard Workforce Innovation Center.

The new building on the Sedalia campus will expand the college’s capacity to meet the growing demand for technical workforce training and strengthen the communities it serves.

“We are very grateful to Gene and Annie for their gift to the Olen Howard Workforce Innovation Center,” said Mary Treuner, SFCC Foundation executive director. “We appreciate their strong support of the college and their commitment to keeping our workforce strong and growing.”

The campaign, Stronger Workforce, Greater Community: A Capital Campaign for the Olen Howard Workforce Innovation Center and Center for Excellence launched in 2020. The college broke ground on the new center in December 2020 on the site of SFCC’s original buildings, affectionately known as Plywood U. Information about the project and ongoing construction is available at www.sfccmo.edu/OHWIC.

The Olen Howard Workforce Innovation Center and the Fielding Center for Excellence will increase the college’s capacity to deliver workforce training by 200 percent and increase enrollment by at least 120 percent in career and technical areas.

The new workforce training center will provide expanded lab and classroom spaces for training in welding and precision machining. Renovations to Fielding Technical Center will provide a Center for Excellence for industrial technology, leadership and supervisory skills and logistics training; space for the new pre-apprenticeship program; and a climate, refrigeration and energy control (HVAC) lab and an advanced manufacturing and robotics lab.

In the photo: Gene and Annie Whitaker recently donated $10,000 to the State Fair Community College Foundation’s capital campaign to help build the Olen Howard Workforce Innovation Center on the Sedalia campus. From left, are Mary Treuner, SFCC Foundation executive director; Dr. Joanna Anderson, SFCC president; Kyle Herrick, SFCC Foundation Board of Directors; Annie and Gene Whitaker; and Steve Ellebracht, SFCC Foundation vice president and capital campaign co-chair.