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August 27, 2010

Terre Haute native ‘pays back’ $450K to hometown

Sue Loughlin The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute native Don Moffitt believes “you have to pay back a little in this life.”

On Friday, the retired president and board chairman of CNF Inc., paid back his hometown in a big way with several major donations to organizations that educate and serve young people.

The donations include $250,000 to the Terre Haute Children’s Museum, which puts the museum within $150,000 of its $5.6 million goal; $100,000 to the Vigo County Education Foundation; and scholarships that will benefit college-going students who have graduated from Terre Haute North Vigo High School and Chauncey Rose Middle School. 

Moffitt also is pledging $100,000 for the Noon Optimist Clothe-a-Child program, and he is donating money for a playground at Maple Avenue United Methodist Church, where his father had been a custodian.

The gifts were announced during a news conference at the Vigo County School Corp. administration building. Superintendent Dan Tanoos announced the gifts on behalf of Moffitt, who was in the Indianapolis area and unable to attend. Moffitt now lives in California.

“This is a great day for Terre Haute and Vigo County,” said Tanoos, who with his wife, Claudia, has nurtured a friendship with Moffitt that goes back many years.

Tanoos and others noted that Moffitt has made significant gifts to his hometown many times in the past, often anonymously. “He never forgot Terre Haute,” Tanoos said.

Moffitt grew up poor in Terre Haute, but later achieved great success in the business world as president and chairman of the board of CNF Inc. He graduated from Gerstmeyer High School and Indiana State University.

In a telephone interview after the announcement, Moffitt said Terre Haute “made me what I am. I learned a lot there.” He said he has fond memories of his hometown and he has good friends who grew up here.

Moffitt also believes you must “pay back a little in this life.” There are many multimillionaires in California where he lives. “I’m just a drop in the bucket in the Bay area,” Moffitt said. In Terre Haute, “I can make a difference.”

Those attending the news conference couldn’t agree more.

Lynn Hughes, Children’s Museum executive director, said she was “overwhelmed by [Moffitt’s] generosity, his passion for educating kids, his passion for children in general, his passion for this community and how willing he is to give back.”

She and board president John Thompson learned Thursday about the gift, which will leave museum officials just $150,000 short of the $5.6 million fund-drive goal, with opening of the new museum at Eighth Street and Wabash Avenue just one month away.

Moffitt is sponsoring the museum’s two-story treehouse, its signature exhibit that will be named in his honor. Moffitt, Hughes and the Tanooses toured the museum last week. They had a conversation while in the treehouse.

Hughes hopes the large gift will energize the community to contribute and help meet the museum campaign goal. “We’re so close that every dollar makes a difference,” she said.

Dan Tanoos said Moffitt asked to meet with him last week to talk about donations that would benefit the school system and organizations benefiting young people, including those in need.

Tanoos said he encouraged Moffitt to contribute to the museum, “something that would stand out and something that would be there forever.” He and Claudia worked with Moffitt and Hughes to iron out details of the donation.

Thompson said it’s “touching and ironic” that Moffitt chose to give to the Children’s Museum. “Our target audience is the young man he once was,” Thompson said. The museum hopes to motivate and “ignite the search for intellectual knowledge” among children in the community, he said. 

Jenny Thomas, executive director of the Vigo County Education Foundation, said the $100,000 donation “is one of those kinds of deals that you just can’t believe is going to happen.”

Several years ago, Moffitt contributed $107,000 to the Education Foundation.

The college scholarships, four new ones per year, will benefit Terre Haute North graduates who also attended Chauncey Rose. The scholarship amounts will be $4,000 per year for four years of college. It will benefit needy students, selected by a committee.

Moffitt said Friday he grew up in a northside neighborhood where “no one ever talked about college,” including his parents. During high school, he never thought of attending college.

He hopes the scholarships will help “address this problem” and enable some disadvantaged students to attend college.

In past years, Moffitt donated funds for a new gym floor, a new ceiling and basketball goals at Chauncey Rose Middle School when Tanoos was its principal. He also has provided college scholarships as part of the Don Moffitt Scholarship Program. In addition, he has provided funding for the Noon Optimist Clothe-a-Child program.

In memory of his father, Moffitt also previously funded a recreation room and daycare center at Maple Avenue United Methodist Church. He also has donated to the Tribune-Star Christmas Basket Fund.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.

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