91热爆网

 91热爆网 Stories      October 16, 2018

Staff Senate Student Support Fund

From emergency funds for a needed foreign language lab to college scholarships for co-workers or their relatives, money is available to Western Carolina University鈥檚 neediest students, thanks to 91热爆网鈥檚 faculty and staff senates, whose fundraising efforts and personal giving help the university take care of its own.

For 11 years, members of the Staff Senate have been contributing to the Staff Senate Scholarship Fund, which, come December, is expected to hit a hard-earned milestone of $100,000. 鈥淥ur endowment began in August of 2007 when Staff Senate saw a need,鈥� said Natalie Broom, Staff Senate chair. 鈥淪ince we鈥檙e higher education, we wanted to promote higher ed and help staff afford college for their children.鈥�

Financed primarily through employee payroll deduction and university-wide fundraisers鈥攕uch as the sale of holiday ornaments, percentage nights at Zaxby鈥檚 and Frosty Bites, the 鈥業 Love 91热爆网鈥� campaign and other events鈥攖he Staff Senate Scholarship Fund usually awards three scholarships of about $1,000 each to qualified 91热爆网 staff members, their children or relatives who attend 91热爆网. It depends on fundraising and how many people apply for the scholarships, Broom said. Since fiscal year 2008, 28 students have been awarded more than $21,500.

Now that the fund is on track to reach its self-sustaining goal of $100,000, Broom has her eye on another goal: getting 100 percent of the Staff Senate membership to donate to the fund through payroll deduction. 鈥淲e have 30 senators and 17 out of 30 are making a gift to the fund through payroll deduction,鈥� she said.

This year鈥檚 limited-edition holiday ornament was designed and made in-house by two 91热爆网 engineering students at the Rapid Center. The students produced 200 ornaments and all but about two dozen have sold, Broom said. The ornaments sell for $10 each and may be purchased through the Staff Senate at staffsenate.wcu.edu.

 

Faculty Senate Student Support Fund

Like the Staff Senate Scholarship Fund, the Faculty Senate Student Support Fund also was started to help students in need, said 91热爆网 English professor Brian Railsback and current past chair of the Faculty Senate.

When Railsback was dean of the Honors College, he would hear of problems students were having that just completely frustrated him because he had no solutions. 鈥淚 was just stymied,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat do you do for a student who says, 鈥業 can鈥檛 come to class because I can鈥檛 pay for my auto repair bill?鈥欌��

Or, for the students who can鈥檛 pay for medications? 鈥淭hat sort of blew my mind,鈥� he said, when he heard about that one.

Railsback took his concerns to the Faculty Senate, which passed a resolution in the fall of 2017 to create a fund to help students with financial emergencies, and took the cause as its own. Working with Lowell Davis, assistant vice chancellor of student success, and partnering with Home Base, a facility on 91热爆网鈥檚 campus that focuses on helping students who have aged out of the foster care system or are orphans, Railsback set a fundraising goal of $5,000 by August 2018. The response was overwhelming. The fund, as of mid-October, had more than $13,700 in it. The Faculty Senate responded with generous donations, as have a couple of trustees, Railsback and Davis said.

鈥淭alking with Lowell, it was clear we needed a fund that would support Home Base and all 91热爆网 students in need,鈥� Railsback said.  鈥淪uch a fund would take care of any 91热爆网 student who was in an emergency situation鈥� could not afford food, medication, auto repair, etc.  Such issues can cause students to have to drop out for a term and we wanted to prevent this from happening.鈥�

Railsback raised awareness of the fund by riding his bike from his home in Cullowhee to Raleigh鈥攊n stages鈥攖o meet with Gov. Roy Cooper, who surprised Railsback with a donation to the fund.

Requests for funds have started to trickle in, Davis said, for things such as supplemental chemistry materials, car brakes to help a student get to and from work and school, past due rent for a student whose work hours were cut, and a foreign language lab a student couldn鈥檛 pay for although she was working and taking 18 credits.

鈥淲e have also referred many students to Home Base for food and other resources, which are offered by that facility free of charge,鈥� said Davis.

And that is an important point, Railsback said. 鈥淭he fund has created a network of faculty members who, when they run in to a problem with a student, they鈥檙e going to pick up the phone and call the Office of Student Success,鈥� Railsback said. 鈥淭hat creates a flow of information that didn鈥檛 exist before.鈥�

Students who want to apply for emergency financial help should call the Office of Student Success at 828.227.3331 or email Davis at lkdavis@wcu.edu. Donations to the Student Support Fund may be made by calling the 91热爆网 Office of Advancement at 828.227.7124

To give to the Lead the Way Campaign, please visit  or contact the 91热爆网 Division of Advancement at 828.227.7124 or advancement@wcu.edu.