Anya Ivanova
In Motion Staff Writer
Lance Rothwell/In Motion
On March 21, the Hosseini Center hosted an Employee Appreciation Breakfast for people who donate. It was the second annual event to thank and acknowledge everyone who is currently donating a part of their salary. About 60 people joined the Foundation for the event. The breakfast was a chance to bring employees together and show them that what they do is appreciated.
“It does make a difference. Every time you see a student and you help them out financially, it makes their life a lot easier academically. Students who received scholarships completed their degrees at 60 percent rate which is phenomenal. That is double the rate of those who didn’t receive scholarships,” said Kay Burniston, Executive Director of the Foundation.
She and Dr. Carol Eaton, DSC President, each talked to the audience about the importance of helping students and asked employees to talk to at least one of their colleagues about Employee Giving.
Eaton said, “I am a giver, I have payroll deduction out of my check. I will make a commitment to you if you’ll make a commitment to me to ask just one more person and let’s see if we can double it again next year.”
The payroll deduction contributions have been available to employees for a long time, but there was no marketing behind it. Last year the Foundation decided to advertise it and designated April to be a month for the Employee Giving Campaign. The Campaign caused the number of employees donating to go from 60 to 131. The next goal for the foundation is to double that number.
The main motto for the Campaign is “Even a Dollar” meaning that even a dollar can help and even a dollar matters. If every employee gave a dollar per pay period it would amount to almost $26,000 per year. Last year the total of $25,000 was donated through payroll deduction and together with other donations it amounted to almost $1 million which was given to 1,200 students in scholarships.
“I really don’t see any reason why everybody doesn’t give. You can give as little as 50 cents a pay check,” said Marge Frye, Senior Staff Assistant.
Most of the money collected goes to scholarships for students, but there are different options for people donating. Employees who donate can give to a designated fund or to general scholarship fund. For example, they can donate for a scholarship for students with a specific major, for students with disabilities, or even to a certain person. Another option is to donate towards a new building on the Flagler campus. It is important to let people help something that they are passionate about.
“I feel blessed that in my position here at the college I can make a small contribution towards our BAS Crises scholarship. This scholarship is for our bachelor degree students in Supervision and Management who lost financial aid, lost their job and can’t complete one or two of the last classes for the bachelor’s degree. I feel like my contribution keeps that particular award sustainable,” says Mitch Pietras, Counselor at BAS department.
In April, the flyers with pictures of people who donate can be seen around campus with quotes about why they are donating. This not only gets new people to join, but also gives ones who are already a part of Employee Giving a sense of belonging and community.
“We work with these students every day so it’s really important for us that they are successful. I think our staff is great. They really go that extra mile in so many ways and this is just an extension of what they do every day,” says Burniston.
At the end of the Employee Appreciation Breakfast, every attendee was given a small gift – a box of seeds which said, “Together we grow student success.” This is the main goal of the Employee Campaign – to help as many as possible.
Mary Bruno, Associate VP of the ATC campus, said, “Students are our future and if we don’t support our future we won’t be able to create a community we want to have.”
To donate, fill out the form at the Foundation office or call 386-506-3407.