June 2008
PACE Receives $7 Million in New Gifts
Performing Arts Center Eastside (PACE) recently announced two significant gifts to the Campaign For PACE totaling $7 million. The first, received in May, is a $6 million capital grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the new design and construction of the 2,000-seat performing arts facility in Bellevue, Washington. The immediate impact of this gift is the financial boost it gives the Campaign and the optimism and energy it brings to the community of volunteers who are dedicated to expanding and enhancing the arts on the Eastside with the addition of PACE.
"PACE is more than a campaign to build a theatre; it offers the opportunity to build community. We are very appreciative of this gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," says Karen Lytle, Co-Chair of the Campaign For PACE along with her husband, Chuck Lytle, and Betty and Kemper Freeman, Jr. "The growth experienced in this region has led to a transformation of the Eastside into a thriving and diverse area with its own distinct identity. PACE will be the centerpiece of an increasingly vibrant cultural life, creating a focal point and inviting an even greater participation in the practice and enjoyment of the arts."
Janine and Alex Florence
A second gift of $500,000 was pledged in June by Janine and Alex Florence to the Campaign For PACE. Janine has been a member of the PACE Board of Directors since 2004 and this is the second gift to the Campaign she and Alex have made. Janine's parents, Lavern and the late Eleanor Fortin have also pledged an additional $500,000 through the Fortin Family Trust, making a total gift of $1 million.
The Fortin family is well known on the Eastside for its role in co-founding the Quality Food Centers (QFC) chain of supermarkets with partners Jack Croco and Lloyd Mitchell (Eleanor's father) in the 1950's. Lavern and Eleanor Fortin got their start in the food business in 1940 when they founded Vernell's Fine Candies. Later they sold the business to Van de Kamp Bakeries. Fortin was president of Van de Kamp Bakeries and chairman of the board of its parent company from 1956 to 1965. Daughter Janine Fortin Florence is President of Property Development Corporation, a company also founded by the Fortin family she now runs. Alex Florence co-founded Alfa Chemicals, Ltd. in London and served as its chairman and managing director until 1991 when he sold his interest and moved to Bellevue.
Lavern and Eleanor Fortin
"I've been involved in the quest to add a larger performing arts venue on the Eastside for a long time," says Janine. "Our family feels the addition of the arts strengthens the entire community. In fact, my mother (who passed away in January) and I talked about our support for PACE in one of our last conversations. PACE is needed and will be well supported. Bellevue and the Eastside have been very good to our family and we are committed to making sure that we have a dynamic performing arts center on the Eastside for generations to enjoy."
"We are deeply grateful to Janine, Alex, Lavern, and Eleanor—their gifts are an expression of their faith in the project, their belief in our mission, and their passion for the arts and the role it can play in developing healthy communities," says John Haynes, executive director and CEO of PACE. "With a population and footprint that would make it, if consolidated, the 35th largest American city, the Eastside is developing into a complete community—as culturally diverse as Seattle and defined by a quality of life that is both urban and accessible. PACE is designed to provide a means to enhance our sense of place and identity, to support our young people, to educate and entertain, and to attract the best and brightest to our schools, businesses, and civic life."
With these gifts, the Campaign For PACE has received $31 million in contributions toward a capital and endowment campaign goal of $160 million.