MSU Catholic Campus Center endowment initiated with one donor
Catholic students at Midwestern State University pose together for a picture. (photo courtesy/Debbie Veitenheimer)
WICHITA FALLS — A hot meal, a car ride, a winter coat: for many, these aren’t considered rarities or luxuries. But in a place most wouldn’t consider destitute — a college campus — husband and wife Justin and Debbie Veitenheimer have seen firsthand the needs of Midwestern State University students while serving at the Catholic Campus Center (CCC) in Wichita Falls.
To help the CCC better provide not only for its fellowship activities but also for its student members, Regional Director of Development of the Advancement Foundation Justin Veitenheimer set to work creating an endowment fund.
Justin was expecting to successfully raise the required $10,000 deposit to start it. What he wasn’t expecting was the first donor he approached funded the entire amount anonymously.
"I was going to approach four donors and request $2,500 a piece to hit the $10,000 donation [requirement],” he stated. “The first donor I approached said, 'I will do the whole thing' and handed me a $10,000 check to get it started.”
Justin’s background in higher education and his role at the Advancement Foundation give him insights into the needs of college students and an understanding of the unique advantages of an endowment.
A donation helps meet the short-term needs of the ministry, but an endowment will be invested and grow, with some funds allocated each year to the ministry but a significant portion set aside for capital projects like building improvements or an expansion.
He hopes that the CCC’s endowment incentivizes other Texas university Catholic centers to follow suit.
Protecting the young faithful
“Typically, our young adults are ones that are forgotten,” Justin remarked. The CCC has seen an increase in non-MSU students, working 18- and 19-year-olds looking for Catholic fellowship, as well as increasing numbers of international students, all of whom tend to face starker living. He and his wife Debbie, the campus minister of the CCC, have also noticed students gathering at the center throughout the day, even on days without planned events.
The CCC’s most prominent need? "Literally feeding people,” Debbie said. "I had a student last week who was in the residence halls [during spring break], and she came to me one day because she had [been given] a frozen meal. She was from Ecuador, literally showing me, so excited. She was like, 'I have a meal today!’ because the cafeteria was closed.
“Food insecurity is a real thing,” she continued, noting how quickly snacks vanish. “Every Wednesday night we have a meal, and that has gotten a lot more expensive. I never want anyone to be hungry. It's a basic need that they do not all have [met].”
Other continued needs include clothing and transportation. Justin noted that during the -3º temperatures February 2021, the CCC set out protective winter clothing for students without heavy coats. Debbie also pointed out the difficulty of transporting students to diocesan events 100 miles away in Fort Worth, whether it’s getting gas or simply enough cars.
Understanding these basic physical and spiritual needs is what moved the CCC’s generous and anonymous donor to make the endowment a reality so quickly. The donor “thinks that campus ministry is so important and that there's so many needs that don't necessarily fit the boxes of a budget,” he said.
While the fund won't be available for at least a year in order to build up the interest they will then be able to use, Justin noted that “when it comes time that it's possible to be used, I guarantee that at that point God will present what the need is.”
More information about the MSU CCC Endowment can be found at advancementfoundation.org/msu-endowment.