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I am pleased to announce that the Edison College Collier Campus has completed the first step toward providing an adequate number of registered nurses in Collier County by meeting the $2 million fundraising challenge issued last fall by the state for the construction of a $12 million, 30,000-square-foot allied health sciences hall.

The local funds are to be matched through the Benjamin Challenge Grant program to yield $4 million, which will be added to $8 million in Public Educational Capital Outlay (PECO) funds for this much-needed facility. The community recognized the 5-to-1 leveraging opportunity presented by this project and generously responded to it.

The largest local portion came via a $1 million lead gift from donors who wish to remain anonymous for the time being. They will have the option of naming the allied health sciences hall when they choose to make themselves known. We received a $250,000 grant from the Martin Foundation of Naples to underwrite the library/resource center for the hall. Kraft Construction and Anchor Health Centers have each made gifts to construct classrooms within the hall. In addition, we have received donations from numerous other businesses and individuals throughout the community.

Our goal was achieved last month when we received a $577,000 contribution from the Vincent A. Stabile Foundation. The Collier Campus nursing program will henceforth be named the Toni Stabile School of Nursing, pending approval of the Edison board of trustees.

Toni Stabile is the author of three books that expose the dangers of cosmetics. She has a positive influence in this community and the country as a whole through research, public service and philanthropy. She and the foundation have made high-profile gifts to such causes as the Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University and the Vincent Stabile Research Building at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. Since Texaco withdrew its financial support in 2004, the foundation has been a long-term underwriter of the Saturday Metropolitan Opera broadcasts on National Public Radio. Many more organizations have benefited from the Stabile family’s anonymous generosity.

The foundation’s namesake, the late Vincent Stabile, in 1950 started Industrial Retaining Ring Co. in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He patented an industrial fastener used in a wide variety of products, from cars to household appliances. In 1994 he sold his company and devoted his time to philanthropy. He died at his home in Naples in 2002.

In addition to our generous donors, we would not have been able to achieve this goal without the tremendous support we have received from our Campaign Council and Steering Committee members. The contributions of our donors and volunteers will have an impact on the quality of life in Collier County for years to come.

We are preparing to launch the next phase of fundraising to underwrite the allied health science programs and offer additional scholarships to nursing and other health-profession students. Building the hall is just the first step in producing the additional nurses, EMT/paramedics and other medical professionals needed by our community. We look forward to adding programs in radiology, nuclear medicine, heart catheterization and physical therapy, to name a few.

Because it will affect all of us, I promise to keep the community up to date on major developments with the allied health sciences hall project.