Fall 2006

Commitment to community motivates friend of Miami

Civic-minded couple Roger and Ginny Dillman have been assisting Miami University Middletown students for more than a decade through financial gifts to the Roger and Ginny Dillman Scholarship fund. Recently, the two endowed the scholarship with a $27,000 gift and also pledged $25,000 for the Miami University Middletown Campus and Community Center.

“For the more than 80 years that we have been in the grocery business, the community has been good to my parents, to me, and now to my son,” Roger Dillman said. “I like to give back to Middletown.”

The family owns Dillman Foods and Save-A-Lot grocery stores in the Middletown area. And while Roger went to work at a young age in the grocery business, and didn’t go to college himself, he said “education is the way to go.”

“We are so fortunate to have this campus here in Middletown,” he said. “A lot of the young people who have worked for us have gone to school there and it’s a great environment for them.”

The family has been committed to helping students attend college who otherwise could not afford it. But the Campus and Community Center is about something more.

Dillman said the one-story center, due to open in early 2007, will enhance the college feeling at Miami University Middletown. Features in the center include a student union with a food court, recreational and meeting spaces, and performance areas. The center will also feature a large multi-purpose room, plus two adjacent meeting rooms and a catering kitchen.

“The whole campus has been an asset to the community, with the woods, the auditorium, everything,” he said. “The campus is a beautiful part of our town.”

The Dillmans were recently honored at the Seventh Annual Scholars and Donors Luncheon at Miami University Middletown.