Charles M. Pugliese Charitable Foundation trustees, from left, H. Lee Kinney, Thomas P. Timmons and William W. McElwain, stand by a plaque acknowleding how a grant in years past helped make Pugliese West Elemenetary School in Steubenville’s West End a reality. The trio met there earlier this week to note the foundation reached a landmark distribution this year in excess of $10 million to 770 grantees, The foundation was established in 1999. (Photo special to The Review by Janice Kiaski)

STEUBENVILLE — It was a fitting spot for the three trustees of the Charles M. and Thelma Pugliese Charitable Foundation to be and in observance of a special occasion.

Earlier this week, William W. McElwain, H. Lee Kinney and Thomas P. Timmons stood in the foyer of Pugliese West Elementary School in Steubenville’s West End near a prominent 2008 plaque acknowledging the school was made possible with the help of a grant from the foundation established in 1999.

At $1 million, it was the largest grant made in the 23-year history of the foundation that this year reached a landmark distribution in excess of $10 million.

The trustees’ presence there for a state-of-the-foundation photo was occasion to review how the foundation came to be and all the good it’s done through the years to help schools, communities and nonprofits throughout the area accomplish what they otherwise probably couldn’t.

“It’s certainly helped a lot of public charities, their endeavors, to accept that money, and of course we’re grateful for the Pugliese family for putting it (money) in the foundation so that we can dole it out.” McElwain said, adding, “It’s been fun and rewarding to be able to do that.”

“I think Mr. and Mrs. Pugliese probably would be astonished really at what their money has done over 23 years,” Kinney commented, noting that the foundation has awarded a grand total of $10,085,000 to 770 grantees.

The foundation’s outright award to Steubenville City Schools more than 10 years ago, the trio reminisced, qualified the school board to apply for government education funds that ultimately built the new elementary school on Canterbury Boulevard.

Other awards through the years have been less in their amounts, but no less significant in terms of projects and pursuits brought to fruition.

The Charles M. and Thelma M. Pugliese Charitable Foundation was funded in 1999 by Mr. Pugliese, according to Kinney, who explained that the Puglieses primarily operated hotels, including in Steubenville, Wheeling, Warren and Portsmouth. Pugliese had a strong work ethic, loved to make money and amassed a fortune, noted Kinney, who connected with the businessman as he and McElwain and the late Robert Hargrave as counsel sought investors in 1985 to launch a new bank in Steubenville — Unibank.

One of 12 children raised during the Depression by a mother he greatly admired, Pugliese turned up as one of the major investors and served on the UniBank board for the life of the bank, now Huntington National Bank. By his 80s, Pugliese had long been a widower with no children — Thelma having died in 1972.

A contemplation of his mortality apparently was the backdrop against which the foundation was established with Pugliese naming Kinney, CEO and chairman of UniBank; McElwain, president of Unibank; and Douglas F. Naylor, a fellow UniBank director, as trustees of the self-perpetuating, autocratic board. When Naylor died, the remaining trustees appointed Timmons, former UniBank vice president, to fill the vacancy.

Pugliese, who died during the early 2000s, uniquely laid out in his foundation trust document who was eligible to apply for a grant — any governmental subdivisions such as a city, village, township, police and fire department, etc.; any school; and any “not-for-profit” organization within a 30-mile radius of Fourth and Market streets in downtown Steubenville, which is where UniBank was and is home now to Huntington.

That’s an area that roughly reaches East Liverpool to the north, Robinson Township, Pa., to the east, Carrollton to the west and St. Clairsville and Wheeling to the south, according to the trustees.

The grant awards are as varied as their amounts and recipients.

Annual scholarship funds, for example, have amounted to more than $460,000 awarded to area high school seniors who have applied for and earned a letter of acceptance to a university or college while “hundreds upon hundreds of thousands” have been granted to area school districts.

Those include Brooke, Buckeye, Carrollton, the Catholic Diocese of Steubenville, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, Edison, Harrison Hills, Indian Creek, the Jefferson County Christian School, the Jefferson Joint Vocational School, Oak Glen, Steubenville, Toronto and Weirton.

“Some of these grants were used for buildings, bleachers, band equipment and uniforms, choral music departments, scoreboards, theater and the arts, computer labs, lap-top computers, downloadable textbooks, auditorium seating, ball fields and classroom furniture,” Kinney noted in his report.

Large grants of up to $500,000, meanwhile, funded area institutions of higher learning, including Bethany College, Eastern Gateway Community College, the Franciscan University of Steubenville, West Liberty University and Wheeling Jesuit University.

The beneficiaries of grants to police and fire departments for trucks, uniforms, training, emergency vehicles and EMT equipment, for example, were Amsterdam, Bergholz, Brookside, the city of Steubenville, Cross Creek Township, Cumberland Trails, Dillonvale, East Springfield, Hillndale, Mingo Junction, Pleasant Hill, Pottery Addition, Richmond, Unionport and Wintersville.

Adena, Amsterdam, Chester, Cross Creek, Dillonvale, Follansbee, Martins Ferry, Mingo Junction, New Alexandria, New Cumberland, Rayland, Richmond, Ross, Salem, Tiltonsville, Toronto, Wells and Yorkville constitute cities, villages an townships in Ohio and West Virginia that have received grants in the foundation’s history.

Kinney noted that the foundation funded the first cottage built at Brooke Hills Park in Wellsburg while a similar sized grant has been made to Friendship Park in Smithfield for campsites equipped with water, electricity and waste disposal, along with building projects on the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

The foundation made a substantial grant toward the restoration of the Great Stone Viaduct in Bellaire, Kinney continued, while senior centers have enjoyed “generous funding” in Burgettstown, Richmond, Steubenville, Wayne Township and Weirton.

Other named foundations have received funding grants for special projects in Bergholz, East Springfield, Jefferson County, Smithfield and the Upper Ohio Valley.

Health-related grants have been awarded to Prime Time, Valley Hospice, the Ohio Valley Health Center, Women’s Health Center and Women In Action Against Cancer Coalition.

Many nonprofits have been helped by the foundation, among them two American Legion posts, seven humane societies and animal shelters, three libraries, 14 food pantries, 10 museums, six United Ways, A Child’s Place, 32nd-Degree Masonic Learning Center, Augusta Levy Learning Center, Friends of Widows and Orphans, Elkhorn Valley Christian Camp, Questers, Historic Fort Steuben, Jefferson Kiwanis Youth Soccer Club, Kings Daughters Child Care, Steubenville Baseball Association, Steubenville Historic Landmarks (Grand Theater), the Salvation Army, Urban Mission Ministries and the Wellsville Historical Society.

The foundation started with $12 million, has about $15 million and has given away $10 million.

“We had requests this year for $1,221,000, and we had $635,000 to dole out this year,” Kinney said. “We give 5 percent of our average assets each year,” Kinney said before explaining the review process of applications submitted.

“When we get the applications, we each independently of one another go through all these applications. We don’t talk to each other about that. Then we make a list of what we think we would be interested in, and the three of us get together and start down the lists that the three of us have made,” Kinney said.

Sometimes that involves a site visit with the applicants for a better understanding or clarification.

“Some people do a really good application. Others don’t,” he added.

Whether the trustees write or call the recipients to notify that an award will be made, the reaction usually is the same — surprised and thankful.

“It’s a good feeling, and they’re always very appreciative,” Timmons said.

Awardees sign a contract and are given a time frame in which to accomplish their project. They report back with a letter to verify the money was spent for the use it was intended.

“I think the nonprofit world is pretty well aware of us, simply because of the amount of money we have,” Kinney commented, noting other foundations have restrictions. “Mr. Pugliese designed his so that we can give to any nonprofit or school, and that’s why we’re here today (at Pugliese Elementary). We gave a million dollars to get this school started. That’s the largest grant we ever made was to this school. They got about $17 million in tax-free education funds but they couldn’t have done it without our million dollars, so that’s kind of the fun part when you can do something that really makes an impact,” Kinney said.

McElwain has been chairman of the group for several years and “does a good job,” according to Kinney, who said the three establish new guidelines for giving every year.

“We sometimes think, well, we’re just going to do buildings, or we’re going to do this or we’re going to do that,” Kinney said, noting that “there’s always a contingency if there’s something that we really can get our teeth into, we might do a multiple year.”

Kinney said the foundation is partial to education as each year, right off the bat, it sends scholarship money to 11 schools.

Annual grant guidelines and foundation grant applications may be requested in writing from the Charles M. and Thelma M. Pugliese Charitable Foundation (the Pugliese Foundation), P.O. Box 2620, Wintersville, OH 43953-2620. Completed applications, in compliance with the current year’s grant guidelines must reach the trustees before midnight on March 31 of any given year.