By Ariel Steinsaltz
Staff Writer
On Thursday, Nov. 7, the College held its fifth annual Day of Giving, where faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni and friends of the College could donate money to different initiatives on campus.
Until 4 p.m. in the Brower Student Center, a table was set up where people could come and make donations. When donating, people could choose the initiative on campus to which they wanted to give money, some of which included programs like the Educational Opportunity Fund, the academic schools and the library.
People who donated at least $5 were able to spin a wheel and win prizes such as stickers, phone wallets or Roscoe plushies. Roscoe himself was even present, giving high fives to people. There was also a scavenger hunt and a photo contest to take pictures with a cutout of Roscoe. The prize wheel migrated to Eickhoff Hall from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., so that students could have a chance to donate during the dinner rush.
Rachel Boland, a graduate student at the College who volunteered for the event, felt that the Day of Giving was important for students who need research, scholarships and other necessities for further their academic and professional careers.
“The purpose of Day of Giving is to be able to give back to students,” Boland said. “All of the majors or departments on campus, including athletics, Bonner, EOF … they come up with campaigns.”
Boland also explained that instead of a monetary goal this year, the event aimed to get 2,555 people to donate to the school — including students, faculty, parents, alumni and friends — in an attempt to increase the sense of community.
Boland was enthusiastic about the campaign of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences to support unpaid internships. She said that although she was lucky enough to get a paid internship, she acknowledges that the lack of money coming from many jobs is a challenge for students.
“At least a half a year of planning goes into getting ready for this,” said Jim Spencer, the Director of Development and Planned Giving. “All the logistics, doing things with the websites, planning all the different activities, the events, getting alumni. We have a lot of challenge gifts, so if we raise a certain amount of dollars, alumni or friends will give additional money, so it takes time to get those lined up.”
Spencer also explained that the night before the Day of Giving, there was a kickoff event with alumni in Philadelphia, and he described a campaign to promote the event on social media. He also explained that the different programs had their own goals of how many people they wanted to donate and that if enough undergraduates gave money, alumni would join as well.
Christina DiBartolo (’14), who now works in the Development and Alumni Engagement Office, was responsible for putting together the Day of Giving.
“I think what is so special about Day of Giving is that it is a day for the entire TCNJ community to really come together to support what we love about the college,” DiBartolo said. “And that can look really different for different people. It can be the school that you were a part of, it can be a professor who changed your life, it could be you were in a program like EOF, or Pride Mentoring Program, and you’re able to give back and support what you love most about the college.”
DiBartolo felt that having the campus community work together to help those in need can make a difference in someone’s life.
“Day of Giving is really about participation because we have different challenges that are available for different schools or programs, so this year we have over $80,000 in challenges,” DiBartolo said.
According to DiBartolo, this year, there were 17 projects to support the students. Like Boland, she was a student in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and she was interested in its program to support unpaid internships.
While DiBartolo acknowledged her team made the Day of Giving possible, she was also grateful for members of the campus community who participated.
“But it’s also everybody in the TCNJ community, coming out and supporting,” DiBartolo said. “It wouldn’t be possible without the support of everyone.”
