$170,000 Donation Given to Southwestern Adventist University for Sports Field Renovation

March 20, 2017:    A Southwestern Adventist University trustee has made a $170,000 donation to renovate facilities for a university sports field.

Timothy Bainum made the $170,000 gift in honor of his mother, Evea Bainum. She graduated from the Keene, Texas-based institution in 1941 and also served on its board of trustees.

The funds will be used to update the field house facilities for the university’s ball field.

The sports facility was already called Bainum Field after a 1992 donation from the Bainum family to improve the field.

The $170,000 field house donation will provide for restrooms and showers, as well as a concession area. The renovation is expected to be completed by fall 2017.

Timothy Bainum was quoted in the Cleburne Times-Review newspaper as saying that he had noticed Bainum Field needed renovation while on a recent campus visit.

“My father was a plumber by trade, so when I recently walked around the ball field the first thing I noticed was that the field house was missing some necessary plumbing,” said Bainum. He said that the next focus for family investment would be the field’s score boards.

SWAU Vice President for Advancement Tami Condon expressed appreciation for the donation.

“This facility will provide restrooms and showers, plus a concession area which will allow student clubs and organizations to raise money for future projects,” she said.

The Bainum family has a history of consistent giving to SWAU. Evea Bainum and her husband contributed to fundraising for the SWAU Chan Shun Memorial Library among other gifts to the university.

SWAU is one of 13 tertiary educational institutions affiliated with the Adventist Church in the United States.

It is owned by the denomination’s Southwestern Union Conference and has about 800 students.