Donating to the Festival

Though the University makes a significant contribution in terms of the services and space it provides to our program, and the school registration fee generates part of the money needed to meet the operating expenses that such a large undertaking entails, the Festival depends upon the generosity of the many firms, institutions, and individuals who help us with those expenses and who provide the prizes that are an important incentive to its continuing success. The Festival Committee is grateful to those supporters and solicits the support of others who appreciate the Festival’s impact upon our community. You are invited to contribute to any or all of the following funds, each of which directly benefits the Festival.

The English Festival Fund

Contributions to this fund are used to provide cash and other prizes, and to pay for normal costs of the Festival, including printing, mailing, travel, and staffing. This fund is the general operating budget for each year’s Festival.

The Thomas and Carol Gay Memorial English Festival Lecturer Fund

Created upon the death of Dr. Carol Gay on December 18, 1985, the Carol Gay Memorial Lecturer Fund was established by her husband, Professor Thomas Gay. Upon the retirement of Professor Thomas Gay from YSU in 1994, the fund was renamed the Thomas and Carol Gay English Festival Lecturer Fund. The Festival Committee added “Memorial” upon the death of Prof. Gay on July 7, 2000. Thomas and Carol Gay were the founders of the English Festival and served as its first two chairs. Each year the fund sponsors the Festival’s featured author-lecturer, a prominent writer of books for young people, who is invited to talk to students, teachers, librarians, and parents in sessions throughout the day and who is identified as the Thomas and Carol Gay Lecturer.

The Candace Gay Memorial Awards Fund

Established in 1978 by Professors Thomas and Carol Gay in memory of their thirteen-year-old daughter, Candace McIntyre Gay, this Fund supports the Candace Gay Memorial Essay Contest. The winners of this contest exhibit distinctive writing ability. More than $2,500 in prizes is distributed each year.

The James A. Houck Memorial English Festival Endowment Fund

The English Festival Committee created this fund in memory of Professor James A. Houck, a founding member of the English Festival committee. This fund supports special Festival events and activities that are unique from year to year., but in most cases, the fund sponsors a "James Houck Lecturer" who delivers presentations to students and adults at the Festival

All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Checks should be made out to Youngstown State University and designated for the YSU English Festival.
Send checks to the following address:

University Development Office
219 Tod Hall
Youngstown State University
One University Plaza
Youngstown, OH 44555

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