Donor Providing “Giving Tuesday” $10,000 Matching Grant Announces New Challenge Grant

More than $30,000 Raised on 2021 Giving Tuesday

Evansville, IN – State Farm Insurance Agent Paul Watzlavik and his wife Holly Watzlavik today announced a second $10,000 matching gift to the Ivy Tech Evansville Foundation for 2022 Giving Tuesday campaign, challenging other donors to consider giving to Ivy Tech, and doubling their contribution through the match, said Ivy Tech Foundation Executive Director Erica Schmidt.

On this year’s Nov. 30 Giving Tuesday, the Watzlaviks and State Farm Insurance provided the first $10,000 matching gift. Dozens of donors to the college met the challenge on Nov. 30 raising $10,191. And with another gift announced today by Dr. Frank L. Hilton, the total raised for Giving Tuesday 2021 stands at $30,091. Hilton’s gift has been designated for nursing and health science students.

Today,  the Watzlaviks, State Farm Insurance, and  Cody Layson, an intern for the company and an Ivy Tech student, presented the $10,000 matching monies to the Ivy Tech Foundation to be used for the greatest needs of students.

Watzlavik said the reason he and his wife and State Farm wanted to provide the matching gift was to make certain that everyday pressures and obstacles students face to completing their degree can be reduced or removed. “When we started supporting Ivy Tech, we started with a scholarship and we saw firsthand the difference we were making,” Paul said. “But after learning more about additional needs of students like transportation, maybe even help with bills, and then better understanding how quickly technology and teaching methods are changing, we wanted to create an endowment that supported the college’s most pressing needs – which could be any one of those things or all of those things in that particular year. An endowment is truly an investment in the good work happening at Ivy Tech.”

(image L-R) Ivy Tech Chancellor Daniela Vidal, Dr. Frank Hilton, Ivy Tech Student and State Farm Intern Cody Layson, Holly and Paul Watzlavik, State Farm Insurance, Vanessa Fritz, and Ivy Tech Foundation staff Nathan Jochum, Liesl Disch, and Erica Schmidt.