By BETH SMITH , Henderson Gleaner

"It's been a long journey with this campaign," said Dr. Patrick Lake, president and CEO of HCC. "I deeply appreciate everyone's effort. I know we are going to reach our goal and go beyond it."

Scott Davis, a local businessman who is chairing the campaign, said the college will continue soliciting businesses and community members for donations in the hopes of reaching the goal.

"We look forward to the time when we can announce the conclusion of the campaign and enjoy our success," he said. "We hope to announce in the next year or two that the campaign is over."

All 16 member schools of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, (KCTCS), are conducting their own "Fulfilling the Promise" campaigns to meet a number of individual goals for each institution.

When the financial goal is met here, HCC plans to utilize the money in three areas:

- A campus Child Development Center to meet the needs of students with children, employees of local business and industry, and the community at large. That center also will provide a practical learning environment for students pursuing education studies.

- Student access/student success programs and scholarship endowment to meet the needs of an ever-growing enrollment.

- Technology infrastructure advancement to allow HCC to remain current with rapidly changing technology. Students will be trained on state-of-the art equipment and taught by faculty with appropriate credentials and expertise.

The two recent gifts the campaign received came from Methodist Hospital with a donation of $240,000 and Coudret Properties Inc. with the donation of a building on Pennel Street valued at roughly $1.2 million.

This latest gift from Methodist Hospital brings its total donations to the campaign to roughly half a million dollars.

Dan Phillips, assistant executive director with Methodist Hospital said the gift of $240,000 is to help expand HCC's nursing program.

"For us, it's a great partnership," he said.

The building on Pennel Street was leased by the college from Coudret Properties and used as a facility where welding and industrial engineering classes were being taught.

David Coudret said he and his partner Alan Powell decided to just donate the building to the school.

"A light came on," he said. "And it became obvious to us that it was the thing to do."