1 C
Niagara Falls
Friday, March 29, 2024
NC agri-food complex receives $1M donation

Niagara College announced Friday it received a $1 million donation towards its Achieving Dreams campaign.

The money will be used to develop, equip and furnish a new 49,000 square-foot four-storey agri-food innovation complex at the college’s Niagara-on-the-Lake campus.

The new facility will be named the Marotta Family Innovation Complex in honour of the donation.

The Marotta family has been known to support various charitable organizations such as Mackenzie Health, Humber River Hospital, Sick Children’s Hospital, Vaughan Hospice, Art Gallery of Ontario and Caledon Food Bank.

Angela and Melissa Marotta are the proprietors of Two Sisters Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Two Sisters Vineyards has also committed $20,000 to Niagara College to establish the Two Sisters Vineyard Bursary Fund, which sees two $2,000 awards given annually to students in Niagara College’s culinary and wine programs.

The new complex will be a hub for agri-food research and include innovation laboratories, incubation space for business, specialized training facilities, and will also house a student fitness centre and gymnasium on the lower level.

The college said construction is expected to be completed in fall of 2018.

The college’s Achieving Dreams campaign, which began in April 2015, has raised a total of $11,450,791, surpassing its original goal of $7 million. 

The college said the money will go towards three areas of student development — $6,319,028 for campus redevelopment; $3,472,692 to support scholarships, bursaries, studies abroad and student leadership development opportunities; and $1,659,071 million to fund instructional equipment and learning resources.

“All of us at Niagara College are extremely grateful to the Marotta family for their generosity,” said Niagara College president Dan Patterson.

He said it would help facilitate “cutting-edge” research projects that will “move Niagara’s growing agri-food industry forward.”

Subscribe to our mailing list