OTC receives $100K donation

The Sunderland Foundation, an organization based out of Overland Park, Kan., has donated $100,000 to the Ozarks Technical Community College Foundation, the fundraising arm of the Springfield school.

The donation supports construction costs of OTC's 2,000-square-foot Allied Health Clinical Simulation Center, a multidisciplinary lab that would allow the school to educate more than 600 students in 12 programs and train health care industry employees already in the workforce, according to a news release.

"The simulation center will make it possible for our programs to use our state-of-the-art equipment in more effective and realistic ways, and we look forward to finishing the construction in a few months," said Cliff Davis, vice chancellor and executive director of the OTC Foundation, in the release. The school expects the center to be completed in December.

Founded in 1945, The Sutherland Foundation supports brick-and-mortar projects for nonprofits and educational organizations, according to its website.

In December 2010, the foundation presented a $100,000 gift to OTC to help construct the school's Commons West building at the Springfield campus.

The Sutherland Foundation paid out four contributions to Springfield organization in 2011:

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks, $15,000;
• Boys & Girls Town of Missouri, $20,000;
• OTC, $50,000; and
• Ozarks Regional YMCA, $25,000.