University receives 527 total donations on Giving Day
The university’s first-ever Giving Day was held on Feb. 20, 2020. With the theme of “20,” Wilkes hoped to receive 220 gifts over the course of the day. The university broke that goal by the end of the day with 527 total gifts.
The gifts were all monetary donations to the campus from alumni, families, and current students and faculty.
Throughout the day the 10 areas of interest had an ongoing participation challenge, where if the area received 20 total donations it would unlock a challenge gift from an alumni donor. As the day progressed many of the areas completed their participation challenge and received a donation of $2,020.
Challenge donors included:
Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald (Eugene Roth ’57, Steven Roth ’84, Garry Taroli ’76, Mark Van Loon ’75) for athletics.
William R. Miller ’81, for the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences.
Ray Dombroski ’78 and Colleen DeMorat, for the College of Science & Engineering.
Leilani A. Hall ‘68, for the E.S. Farley Library & Innovation.
Geraldine T. Nesbitt, for the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy.
John Kerr ’72 & Renate Dargel Kerr ’72, for the Passan School of Nursing.
Jay S. Sidhu, MBA ‘73, for the Sidhu School of Business & Leadership.
Paula VanFossen Vinsko ‘97 – Vinsko and Associates PC, for Student Life.
David Capin ‘82, for Student Scholarships.
Commander William Bradbury ‘75 in memory of his wife Cynthia A. Lenahan Bradbury ‘75, for the School of Education.
In total, Giving Day raised $87,391 in gifts and additional pledges, including the money from the challenge donors.
Outside of donations, Giving Day hosted a Tik Tok area in the Henry Student Center as well as a photo booth for students to take photos and share about Giving Day online across social media.
The Wilkes Hip Hop Dance club performed a dance routine encouraging students to join them and perform the dance on Tik Tok.
Social media posts were tagged with the hashtags, #ItTakesTwo, #Wilkes&You, #WilkesGivingDay and #Give2Wilkes.
Olivia Wood, sophomore nursing major and Victoria McCloskey, sophomore nursing major, pose for the Giving Day Photo Challenge.
Three winners were selected out of those who made social media posts with the hashtags. They each received a commemorative Colonel bobblehead
At noon, faculty and staff from Student Development and Student Activities met in the Center for Career Development and Internships where they held a ribbon-cutting for the grand opening of the Colonel Clothing Closet.
Sharon Castano, director of student development; Lisa Mulvey, coordinator for career development and internships; Interim President Dr. Paul Adams; Mark Allen, vice president of student affairs and Phil Ruthkowsky, associate dean of student development at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Colonel Clothing Closet.
The Colonel Clothing Closet is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and offers students free business and business casual outfits and accessories for career fairs and interviews.
In addition, throughout the day, seniors ran their table to take donations from other seniors for their class gift.
Amanda Imbalzano, senior theatre major, Mary Simmons, associate director of alumni relations and Michaela Free, P2 pharmacy major, collecting donations for the senior class gift: new benches to be put across campus.
“The senior class gift is a way for the senior class to give back to the university and make a lasting mark, something they can look back on and see when they come back to wilkes in years to come. Our class has decided to donate picnic tables for all of campus to enjoy,” said Amanda Imbalzano, theatre major and student class president.
“I am super excited about this event because as an employee myself I feel this is such a special place. There is a special energy that makes Wilkes unique. This day is one day to celebrate all that pride and excitement and energy. The message is really special to me, that you support the areas you love most,” said Leigh Ann M. Jacobson, CFRE director of alumni engagement and annual giving.
Sean is a sophomore communication studies major who started as a staff writer in the fall of 2018. Sean currently works as the Assistant News Editor, a...