Alumni Association commitment to COVID-19 Student Relief Fund increased to $100,000

Wow, they did it again! The Acadia Alumni Association has doubled its commitment to COVID-19 relief at Acadia to $100,000 by adding another $40,000 to the Student Relief Fund and earmarking $10,000 for immediate aid for international students.

Last month, the Alumni Association acknowledged the tremendous financial pressure facing Acadia students due to the coronavirus pandemic and donated $50,000 to the University’s COVID-19 Student Relief Fund. The fund will help to provide bursary support in variable amounts to second, third and fourth-year students facing ongoing and/or summer employment disruption or other financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic.

The Student Relief Fund was announced in early April and support continues to arrive on an almost daily basis from alumni and friends. The Alumni Association has contributed almost half of the Fund’s $225,000 total, which will benefit over 450 students in need.

Alumni Association President Donalda MacBeath ('75) says, “we understand the impact the pandemic has had on Acadia’s students and want to make sure that resources are in place to support their return to school this fall and share in the many academic and social experiences that characterize Acadia.

“We are particularly conscious of the circumstances facing our international students. Our priority as an alumni community comprised of people in more than 60 countries around the world is to extend help where and when it is needed, and we hope this financial aid package will assist in mediating some of the challenges affecting our international students right now.”

University President Dr. Peter Ricketts applauded the Association’s commitment, saying, “time and again, Acadia’s alumni community has seen and responded to our students’ needs. On behalf of the University, I’d like to extend my deepest thanks to the Alumni Association for this generous gift and acknowledge members of our wonderful alumni community for supporting in a very meaningful way our COVID-19 Student Relief Fund. We are all stronger together, and support like this means we can look forward with excitement and great anticipation to the fall and a return to campus of our students.”

For students looking to learn more about accessing the COVID-19 Student Relief Fund, please visit: https://covid-19-information.acadiau.ca/faq.html#finances.

For more on Acadia’s COVID-19 response, please visit: https://covid-19-information.acadiau.ca/home.html.

Written by Fred Sgambati (’83)

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