March 27, 2019
Media Advisory – SIU Day of Giving trophy ceremony
A Facebook group that came together and raised more than $42,000 for Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s 2019 Day of Giving campaign on March 6 will be honored Friday.
Chancellor John Dunn will present the “Balancing Education, Experience and Reality” Scholarship group with the trophy for the most gifts at 11 a.m. at Shryock Auditorium. More than 50 people who are members of the Facebook group have indicated they will attend.
Reporters, photographers and news crews are welcome to cover the event.
The group has raised more than $42,300 from 1,025 gifts, but the SIU Foundation is still receiving gifts for the scholarship so it will be mid-April before final totals are available.
Overall, the third annual Day of Giving raised nearly $912,000 for scholarships, programs and other SIU priorities. There were nearly 3,000 gifts from 46 states.
Dan Giedeman, a three-degree SIU Carbondale alumnus who came up with the idea for the Facebook group to raise funds, is driving with his family from Michigan to present a symbolic check representing the groups’ donations. Giedeman is an economics professor at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who earned bachelor degrees in history and economics in 1992, and a master’s degree in economics in 1994.
Among academic programs, the School of Medicine attracted the most gifts and also raised the most funds. Saluki Athletics is taking home the trophy for most dollars raised for a non-academic unit. Arrangements are being made to present those respective trophies later.
A thank-you video is online, and photos highlighting the Day of Giving and the university’s 150th anniversary launch can be found on SIU’s Facebook page.
For more information, contact Rebecca Renshaw, associate director of communications, SIU Foundation at rebeccar@foundation.siu.edu or 618/453-1328.