News & Events

Janirve Foundation Donates $1 Million Endowment to UNC Asheville

February 9, 2010

When UNC Asheville celebrated the opening of the Reuter Center, home to the nationally acclaimed North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement, in 2003, the Janirve Foundation was at the top of the donor list with a $1.75 million gift. Now, the Janirve Foundation has stepped up again, this time with a $1 million donation to establish an endowment supporting the Reuter Center's capital needs and the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement's new program initiatives.

"We want the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement and its programs to be an enriching resource for the university and community, and this endowment is the perfect way to do that," said Cissie Stevens, North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement interim director, who was instrumental in securing the endowment. "We're grateful that the Janirve Foundation is supporting our work to be a national leader in learning opportunities for adults of all ages."

Stevens is former director of the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement's College for Seniors and a former UNC Asheville Board of Trustees member. She is serving as interim director of the Center while a national search for a new executive director is underway.

UNC Asheville Chancellor Ponder said, "The Janirve Foundation has been an important part of the Reuter Center since its very beginning and this endowment is a wonderful endorsement of the Center for Creative Retirement's mission and of the work that happens in the Reuter Center. The endowment will allow the university to continue to offer affordable and innovative programs through the Center for Creative Retirement during these challenging economic times."

Now in its 24th year, the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement and its programs have been highlighted in CBS Sunday Morning, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and other national publications. It has expanded from a single classroom to the 20,000-square-foot Reuter Center, named in honor of Irving J. Reuter, the late industrialist who established the Janirve Foundation. The Center has also grown steadily in prominence, winning the prestigious Jack Ossofsky Award from the National Council on Aging as an outstanding educational program.