Two Generous Family Gifts Ensure Future of Westminster College Learning Center

The future of the Tomnitz Family Learning Opportunities Center on the campus of Westminster College has been assured thanks to the generosity of two Westminster families.

Don (’70) and Sharon Tomnitz have made a $250,000 commitment to fund the Tomnitz Family Learning Opportunities Center Endowment.  They made previous gifts (2003-2004) during the Campaign for Westminster to establish the Tomnitz Family Learning Opportunities Center.

Another gift commitment was made by the Charles and Mary Beth O’Reilly Foundation and individual commitments from Ryan (’01) and Brandi O’Reilly and Tim (’90) and Brooke O’Reilly to establish the O’Reilly Family Endowment for Learning Opportunities.

Because both of these family gifts were established as endowments, the annual earnings from this total of $450,000 in gifts will help support the Tomnitz Family Learning Opportunities Center’s staff, programs, resources and other expenses to keep it operating for perpetuity.

The O’Reilly family also gave another $50,000 in restricted funds to be used specifically to provide direct support to the Tomnitz Family Learning Opportunities Center for the next five years, giving the endowment an opportunity to build up earnings during that time period.

The Tomnitz Family Learning Opportunities Center offers academic support to Westminster students through a variety of programs, including the Learning Disabilities Program, the Academic Enrichment Program, the Peer Tutoring Program and the College Transition Program.  The Center’s professional staff also offers supplemental courses designed to encourage and support academic success in the humanities, natural and mathematical sciences and social sciences.

“Our nationally acclaimed Tomnitz Family Learning Opportunities Center plays a vital role in Westminster’s unique educational approach of taking each student at the level of achievement they have attained upon enrollment and giving them the individual attention they need to advance and prepare for success,” says Bill Sheehan, Vice President of Institutional Advancement.  “We are very appreciative that the Tomnitz and O’Reilly families have recognized the importance of the Center in providing a Westminster education and have chosen to support its future work so generously.”