The “Hallelujah Chorus” at Tabor College’s Sunday performance of Handel’s “Messiah” was fitting punctuation for the announcement of an upcoming $1 million donation from an Oklahoma foundation for the college’s planned Center for the Arts.

Tabor President Jules Glanzer confirmed nearly 1,000 donors have contributed $8 million to the arts center campaign, the amount required to receive $1 million from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“It’s the generosity of so many people, their sacrifices, and the commitment of so many that this is becoming a reality,” Glanzer said to a full audience at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.

“In two years, you’ll be hearing the ‘Messiah’ in the new Shari Flaming Center for the Arts,” Glanzer said. “We are planning, tentatively, to break ground in May 2015, with completion in August 2016.”

Mabee Foundation Vice-Chairman Raymond Tullius said this would be the foundation’s sixth and largest donation to Tabor since 1983. Tabor’s past success with foundation challenge grants was a factor in backing the arts center campaign.

“We don’t like to issue a grant unless it’s likely to be met, and their past experience was a good indication they would achieve their goal,” Tullius said. “We liked the project. It’s a good program education-wise.”

The $9 million arts center is the largest component of the college’s $16.2 million Signature Campaign. Additional donations have raised $3.8 million of the $7.2 million goal for funding additional campus enhancements and endowments for the facility and the college’s annual fund.

“We are so pleased that so many people have contributed to this campaign and to the future of Tabor College,” vice president of advancement Ron Braun said. “There is still a lot of work to be done. We are up to the challenge knowing that the majority of this campaign is behind us.”

Information about the Signature Campaign is available by calling the Advancement Office at (620) 947-3121 ext. 1709, and online at www.tabor.edu/about/signature-campaign.