Historic Preservation Lecture Fund

Since 1977, Evansville's historic preservation groups have staged an annual lecture, typically associated with a lunch or dinner, in association with National Historic Preservation Month.  The speakers on these occasions have almost always been national in stature, bringing to the city experts from other parts of the country or other parts of the state.  Many of them have been willing to come on the basis that their expenses were covered; others have been paid an honorarium.

Amy W. MacDonell served as Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Evansville from 1983 to 1986, and Randall T. Shepard was Judge of the Vanderburgh Superior Court at that time.  They met at the historic preservation lunch and lecture in 1983 and were married in May 1988.

Recently, Chief Justice Shepard contacted the Vanderburgh Community Foundation because he wanted to do something very special as a surprise for his wife.  He established a fund to commemorate their twentieth wedding anniversary and to ensure that the lectures that were so important in their lives will continue to benefit the community... forever!  The Amy W. MacDonell-Randall T. Shepard Historic Preservation Lecture Fund is a field-of-interest fund to reimburse the travel expenses and/or honorarium of a speaker presenting an annual lecture in conjunction with National Historic Preservation Month, held in May. 

"Community foundations have a special importance in the world of philanthropy-and in building communities," says Evansville native Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard. "Community foundations offer the opportunity to focus resources on particular projects, and the flexibility to create charitable institutions that look across the range of needs and deploy assistance wherever needed,"

"The Vanderburgh Community Foundation gives potential donors the best of both worlds," he explains. "It creates an opportunity to focus your charitable intent, if that is what you want to do, and to do so under capable long-term management and stewardship. I think the real benefit is that hope for the future- that big idea of what Evansville and southwest Indiana can be."