Day of Giving is a time for everyone to come together and donate money to help students in need.
This is the fifth annual year of Day of Giving as the first one was hosted in 2019. Days of Giving are not uncommon on most college campuses. Different colleges do them for different reasons.
Del Beatty, vice president of student affairs, said for as long as he’s worked at Utah Tech University, there has been a day of giving.
“The motivation for everything we do is to help students,” Beatty said. “I mean that’s just the bottom line.”
Day of Giving at Utah Tech was started to raise scholarship money for students and runs under the development office. So far, $37,868 has been donated out of their goal of $50,000.
Director of Development Lance Brown said the reason they decided to focus on one specific day was to try and get as many people as possible to participate and experience the fulfillment and joy that comes from giving.
“It’s kind of fun to see how much good you can do when a lot of people do a little bit,” Brown said.
With Day of Giving, you can contribute to specific areas like the struggling student fund. This fund is managed by the Dean of Students, Ali Threet, and makes it possible for her to contribute money to students.
Beatty said when he was the dean of students, he used a portion of the money to buy a plane ticket for a student who needed to go home for a funeral service.
People can donate to this, to a specific scholarship, or if they would like to support an athletic team, they can.
“Well, obviously, the nice thing that I personally like about it is because it shows that you not only believe in the institution, but you believe in supporting our students,” Beatty said.
It’s structured so people can pick the amount of money they want to donate to the funds. Beatty said the university has a lot of students who are homeless. So, without the struggling student fund, the university would not be able to help those students.
Kristel Johnson, the executive assistant for student affairs, said she graduated from Utah Tech and has been a recipient of the scholarship funds. These assisted her in getting her bachelor’s degree.
Johnson said: “It made the world of a difference for myself and my family, and I want to continue to participate in it and give back. And so, I give what I can, but I think it’s very important because I know how it changed my life.”
She also said she wants to support students who are bettering themselves and trying to set themselves up for their future careers.
“I feel how important it is to support the students and just to give something,” Johnson said. “If there’s, you know, even a small amount, it’s when all of us come together and give what we can that we can make the biggest impact.”
