Employees donate $27K to Student Emergency Fund
June 30, 2020
DeKALB — 672 NIU employees donated their parking pass refund to the Student Emergency Fund. The parking refund donations ended with a total of $27,413, said Michael Adzovic, director of the Northern Fund.
Donations were accepted from June 1 to 15. Staff donations were extended to June 18 due to high demand.
It was the faculty and staff’s idea that the university create an outlet for them to donate their parking refunds to students who were feeling the squeeze, Nicole Wilson, public information coordinator for administration and finance, said.
Refund donations were sent through the NIU Foundation to the Student Emergency Fund.
The Student Emergency Fund was established to provide assistance to NIU students who have been impacted by COVID-19 or whose circumstances have been exacerbated as a result of the pandemic, according to the SEF website.
The Student Emergency Fund was first established on March 30, according to a Northern Star article. It was relaunched on June 1.
President Lisa Freeman expressed her gratitude on how invested the staff is in helping students in an email sent to employees on June 17.
“We have all been hit hard by COVID-19,” Adzovic said. “The staff donations showed how much we are as a campus community invested in the success and well-being of our students.”
