The generous gift from Elon Trustee Vicky Hunt and her husband, Sam Hunt, will provide life-changing opportunities for generations of Elon students. This gift pushes the Elon LEADS Campaign past the $200 million mark toward the $250 million goal.
Elon Trustee Vicky Hunt and her husband, Sam Hunt, of Burlington, North Carolina, have made a $3 million estate commitment that in the future will create an endowment to support student scholarships. Deepening scholarship funding is an institutional priority at Elon and the top priority of the $250 million Elon LEADS Campaign. Already, donors to Elon LEADS have created more than 180 new scholarships during the campaign.
The Hunts’ gift has pushed the total raised in the campaign past the $200 million mark toward the $250 million Elon LEADS goal.
President Connie Ledoux Book thanked the Hunts for their unwavering dedication to Elon, which has spanned three decades.
“During this time of pandemic uncertainty, I am grateful, and Elon University is grateful, for the steadfast support of Trustee Vicky Hunt and her husband, Sam,” Book said. “The Hunts are fierce believers that the education Elon provides is the difference maker for the future of Alamance County and our nation.”
“Elon has always been a priority with us and when we give to Elon, especially through scholarships, the impact on the lives of students and on the future of the university is immediate, long lasting and, of course, very gratifying,” Vicky Hunt said.
The Hunts are among the donors who have generously provided for the university in their estates, an important component of the Elon LEADS Campaign. Through these gifts, donors create a lasting legacy at Elon and help build a powerful pipeline of financial support to secure the university’s future.
Sam and Vicky Hunt are longtime business, political and philanthropic leaders in Burlington and Alamance County. They have been loyal Elon benefactors, making lead gifts to support need- and talent-based scholarships, including the Odyssey Program, which serves students with exceptional ability and significant financial need. The Hunts have also generously contributed to the Phoenix Club and Elon Academy, the university’s successful college access program, and helped advance Elon’s iconic campus with gifts to Hunt Softball Park, Schar Center and The Inn at Elon. The Hunts are members of the Elon LEADS Campaign Steering Committee.
Sam Hunt is the retired chairman and CEO of Atlas Lighting Products and Hunt Electric Supply Company of Burlington. He served four terms in the N.C. House of Representatives (1985-1992) before being named Transportation Secretary in 1993. He went on to serve as president and chairman of the N.C. Railroad from 1996 to 2002.
In addition to her role in their businesses, Vicky Hunt has served as an Elon trustee since 1997. She is actively involved with charitable work in her community, having served on the boards of the N.C. Film Commission, Alamance County Community College, American Red Cross, the Pet Adoption & Welfare Society (PAWS) and the N.C. Zoo.
About the Elon LEADS Campaign
With a $250 million goal, Elon LEADS is the largest fundraising campaign in the university’s history and will support four main priorities: scholarships for graduates the world needs, increase access to engaged learning opportunities such as study abroad, research and service learning, support for faculty and staff mentors who matter and Elon’s iconic campus. To date, donors have contributed $200 million toward the overall goal.
Every gift to the university—including annual, endowment, capital, estate and other planned gifts—for any designation counts as a gift to the campaign, which will support students and strengthen Elon for generations to come. To learn more about how you can make an impact, visit www.elonleads.com.