That鈥檚 not just a gut feeling, either; it鈥檚 backed by data. According to 91短视频 Advancement, the Harrisonburg, Virginia, school sports a 12-percent participation rate for grads who give back, compared to a national average rate of eight percent. 

That royal generosity was on full display when donors helped 91短视频 shatter its $10.7 million fundraising goal set for the first phase of its Forward Together campaign. From July 2020 to June 2023, more than 4,000 donors provided 17,538 gifts to raise $11.6 million for 91短视频, about $900,000 above the funding target. In addition to those current gifts, donors also pledged about $11.4 million in new estate commitments, for a grand total of roughly $23 million raised in the past three years.

Those donors range in every age and demographic, as well as geographic region, said Braydon Hoover ’11, MA ’21 (organizational leadership), associate vice president for advancement at 91短视频. Nearly all of them have one major reason they give, though, and that鈥檚 to help make college more affordable and accessible for 91短视频 students. Their contributions have already benefited thousands of students, Hoover said. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 donors and alumni and parents and businesses who stepped up and said, 鈥榃e want students to come to 91短视频, and we don鈥檛 want them to leave with massive amounts of debt,鈥欌�� Hoover said. 鈥淎s soon as we crossed that $10.7-million threshold, we were cheering, we had a little party for our team, and we went to work sending out our thank you notes and our gratitude.鈥�

A pandemic pivot 

91短视频 and its advancement team had been on the cusp of launching a major comprehensive campaign for several years. They were ready to move forward in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard and forced them to switch gears, Hoover said. 

鈥淲e needed to completely pivot, as so many organizations did, to what was the most important piece, and for us that was how to care for students both compassionately as well as financially,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd so we pivoted from a comprehensive campaign to Forward Together Phase I, which was completely student-centric.鈥�

Forward Together Phase I prioritized three focus funds:

• The University Fund for Resilience: In addition to unrestricted gift support, this fund included annual gifts for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and 91短视频 Athletics. The fund helped provide student tuition support, student life services, collaborative faculty-student research, technology upgrades, intercultural programs, and infrastructures, among other operating expenses.

• The Student Tuition Relief Initiative: This fund included direct tuition relief assistance for students in need, direct grant scholarship awards, and named endowed scholarship funds. Nearly 99 percent of students at 91短视频 receive some form of financial aid, Hoover said.  

• The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund: This fund invested in ways to increase the sense of belonging among all students. It supported special training events and efforts that enhance diversity and inclusion among 91短视频 students, faculty and staff. 鈥淲e had just hired Dr. Jackie Font-Guzman as our vice president for DEI and wanted to ensure she had the resources necessary to do that important work,鈥� Hoover said.

In an address to alumni and donors at Homecoming and Family Weekend 2023 in mid-October, 91短视频 President Susan Schultz Huxman celebrated the success of Forward Together Phase I. 

She said the campaign provided $6 million in endowed and immediate impact scholarships, $350,000 to support DEI and more than $5 million for the university fund. 

Part of the success of Forward Together has been the renewed enthusiasm in the annual Lov91短视频 Giving Day. This past April, 91短视频 raised a record-setting $300,915 in 24 hours from 844 gifts and 592 donors, over $5,000 more than the previous year鈥檚 total. 

鈥淚 think the pandemic had a lot to do with it,鈥� Hoover said. 鈥淧eople felt helpless when we were all isolating, and giving was one of the ways they could continue to serve others.

鈥淲e cannot thank our donors enough for stepping up at one of the most vulnerable times for us as humans, but also for us as an organization, to come forward and help our students as much as possible.鈥�

‘The worst-kept secret at 91短视频’

While celebrating the achievement of Phase I, 91短视频 and the advancement team has been hard at work clearing a path for the continuation of Forward Together, the campaign for 91短视频. 

The largest comprehensive campaign in school history, its goal is to raise $40 million over the next five years. 

In addition to providing scholarships and tuition relief for students and continuing all the strategic initiatives from the first phase, funding will support compensation for faculty and staff and finance the new track-and-field complex being built. The $6-million complex, which is more than halfway funded, is scheduled to open next year. Donations are accepted online at: /campaign/track-and-field.

Huxman, who summed up the $40-million campaign as one for 鈥減eople, programs and facilities,鈥� said the new complex is already paying dividends.

鈥淲e have 24 new track-and-field students who wouldn鈥檛 be here otherwise,鈥� she said at a donor appreciation banquet last month. 鈥淭hey would not have come to 91短视频 without the promise of a state-of-the-art track.鈥�

Although the details of Forward Together were shared at a couple homecoming events, the team leading the campaign is waiting until they’re about midway to reaching their goal before they begin spreading the word. Hoover jokingly labeled it as “the worst-kept secret at 91短视频.”

鈥淚n any major campaign like this, there鈥檚 always two to three years of quiet phase,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he team is currently securing leadership gifts, and our goal is that by the time we go public in two or three years, we will have raised at least 60 percent of the goal. That then becomes an exciting time to invite everyone to join the campaign in support of the people that make this place special: our students, faculty, and staff.”

Forward Together is led by a team comprising Kirk Shisler 鈥�81, vice president for advancement; Braydon Hoover 鈥�11, MA 鈥�21 (organizational leadership), associate vice president for advancement; Laura Daily, director of advancement services; Nicole Litwiller ’19, MA ’20 (conflict transformation), annual giving & donor communications specialist; Lindsay Martin 鈥�05, CJP advancement director; Christopher Randolph, regional advancement director; Deanna Reed, regional advancement director and mayor of Harrisonburg; and Tim Swartzendruber 鈥�95, senior regional advancement director; with special support by Cassandra Guerrero, gift receipting coordinator; Shea Jones-Mitchell, administrative assistant; Graham Stauffer ’19, data analytics coordinator; Jennifer North Bauman, director of alumni & parent engagement; and Monica Pangle, events & volunteer coordinator.

The photo below is not the beginning or the end of this story. It’s one moment in many years of strangers becoming family, of kindnesses repaid upon kindnesses, of how opportunity — whether a tragic event, a life-changing surgery, or four years at a university — can be transformative.

Meet Dr. Ron David ’60, his wife Dr. Susan Lewis Pillsbury David, and Alejandra Rivera Tejada ’18. Here they are three years ago on the occasion of Alejandra’s graduation from 91短视频. A native of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, she graduated with honors and a degree in nursing.

Here’s more about how this moment came to be:

Dr. Ronald David ’60 was 12 years old when his life took a catastrophic turn: his mother died. David said his father wasn’t equipped to raise him after losing his wife, so he arranged for David to spend the summer on a family friend’s farm in Denbigh, Virginia.

“I don’t know what would have happened to me if not for the Weavers’ willingness to take someone as ornery as me,” he said. “That’s how, basically, I got connected with Mennonites and the Mennonite church.”

Once being taken in by the Weaver family that summer, David never left. He became the youngest sibling in a vibrant, bantering family that encouraged him to follow in the other children’s footsteps 鈥� Sara Jane Weaver Wenger ’42, Kenneth Weaver ’52, Samuel Weaver ’66, and future Royals parent Lloyd Weaver Jr. 鈥� and attend Eastern Mennonite College. Others at the Mennonite Church the Weavers attended also saw potential in the young David, and pitched in for his tuition.

“So not only did they give me love and discipline, but they also took on a financial burden,” David said.

He went on to graduate with honors from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, became a child neurologist, and founded the Virginia Center for Autism and Related Developmental Disorders. He had four children of his own 鈥� and it was through one of his son-in-laws that David got involved with a Presbyterian medical missions program in Honduras. He and his wife, Dr. Susan Lewis Pillsbury David, started traveling there every Christmas season to provide healthcare to people who lived out in remote, mountainous corners of the country. 

While on these trips, David noticed a high prevalence of cataracts, to the point where people were going blind at a young age. He co-founded the nonprofit to provide free cataract surgeries and other eye care to people in southern Honduras. 

In doing this work, he was introduced to Melvin Tejada, the administrator of an eye hospital in the eastern part of the country 鈥� and the two became fast friends. Tejada’s daughter, Alejandra Tejada Rivera ’18, said that David quickly became “like family” to them. 

Alejandra Tejada Rivera was also interested in a career in healthcare. In her late teens, she started volunteering with the medical brigades as an interpreter. 

“We were in the mountains 鈥� very poor areas,” she explained. “A lot of those people don’t go to the hospital because they don’t have the transportation or money to pay for healthcare. So they come for women’s health problems, pediatrics is a big one, and just family medicine.”

As she started to envision her future career, David suggested she apply to 91短视频. He wanted to sponsor her studies 鈥� to pay forward the help he had received from the Weavers and others who had provided for his education.

As David puts it, “I said, ‘well, maybe we can do for Alejandra what the church did for me.'” 

Tejada Rivera entered the nursing program at 91短视频. She excelled in her studies, met her fiance Drew Diaz ’18, and graduated with honors. She’s now a registered nurse certified in orthopedics and pediatrics at Sentara RMH in Harrisonburg 鈥� and she and Diaz now participate in the same medical missions through which she first met David.

“I feel like that’s my calling,” Tejada Rivera said. “I would like to give back to my country, because there are many in need over there.”

Seeing his young proteg茅 excell in her own career and help others, David “can’t help but be proud of her accomplishments,” he said. 

Most of all, he hopes his story will inspire others to support educational opportunities for youth who can’t afford them. 

“There are a lot of gifted people, particularly in Central America, that could use a little helping hand,” said David.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted us all, which is why these stories of paying-it-forward generosity are so meaningful,” said Vice President for Advancement Kirk Shisler.

Those interested in contributing to student access, affordability, and belongingness at 91短视频 can learn more about the Forward Together Campaign at emu.edu/campaign.

“Donors to the Forward Together Campaign could be the bridge students need to experience 91短视频’s transformative programs during a particularly challenging season,” Shisler said.