SIFE breaks ground on its new facility July 7

Students in Free Enterprise held a ground-breaking ceremony for its new building July 7 at 1959 E. Kerr, the Jack Shewmaker Center, according to a news release from the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

Originally based in Texas, SIFE's national headquarters was relocated to Springfield in 1983, the release stated.

Students in Free Enterprise is a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with business and higher education to help college students take what they're learning in the classroom and apply it to real-life situations, and to use their knowledge to better their communities through educational outreach projects, according to the release.

With a completion goal of early 1999, the three-story, 11,200-square-foot addition will be named the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center and will provide additional office and conference room space for SIFE's Career Opportunity Center and University Relations, the release said.

The existing 5,600-square-foot building will be named the Jack Kahl Entrepreneurs' Help Center. The entire 168,160-square-foot campus will be named the Jack Shewmaker SIFE World Headquarters, according to the chamber.

"Our expansion will help SIFE better serve colleges and universities, faculty and students, enabling us to more effectively convey the successes of our free enterprise system" said SIFE's president and chief executive officer, Alvin Rohrs, in the release. "And our location, right at Springfield's front door, couldn't be better."

The building fund was kicked off this spring with donations from three of SIFE's greatest supporters. Involved with SIFE since 1985, Jack and Melba Shewmaker of Bentonville, Arkansas, have stepped forward with a $250,000 commitment to SIFE's Capital Campaign, the release stated.

Jack Shewmaker, who was formerly vice chairman and chief financial officer of Wal-Mart, served SIFE at a critical time in its history as chairman of the board from 1985-1988. He was the first member inducted into the SIFE Hall of Fame, first recipient of the Secretarial Award and is a Champion of SIFE.

"I've watched SIFE grow by leaps and bounds since the '80s," Shewmaker said in the release. "By providing a better facility, we're helping SIFE students make the world a better place."

In an equal display of support, Robert W. Plaster, president of Evergreen Investments LLC of Lebanon, also has pledged $250,000 to support SIFE's growth, the release said. A member of SIFE's Hall of Fame, Plaster has been an active SIFE board member since 1983.

"SIFE is one of the finest and fastest growing organizations in the United States," Plaster said in the release. "It has done more to educate America's youth in the sound principles of a strong free enterprise system than any other organization in America. SIFE is building good citizens who will be the leaders of tomorrow."

Finally, Jack Kahl, SIFE's outgoing chairman and 1998 Hall of Fame inductee, matched the gifts of Shewmaker and Plaster. Chairman and CEO of Manco Inc. in Avon, Ohio, Kahl has been on SIFE's board since 1992 and was its chairman from 1993 until he stopped down in May.

"Countries around the world are embracing the free enterprise system," Kahl said in the release. "SIFE has the responsibility to provide leaders. We need to help develop an education system which allows people to compete globally, and we can do this by spreading and teaching the principles of free enterprise."

Founded in 1975 and active on more than 500 college campuses internationally, SIFE provides students the opportunity to make a difference and to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise.

For more information, contact SIFE national headquarters in Springfield at 831-9505 or on the web at http://www.SIFE.org.

PHOTO CAPTION:

SIFE supporters Robert Plaster, Alvin Rohrs, Jack Kahl, Jack Shewmaker and Tony Stebbins break ground on the new SIFE project July 7.[[In-content Ad]]