{"id":2848,"date":"2024-06-28T17:53:37","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T17:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=2848"},"modified":"2026-01-31T00:38:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T00:38:28","slug":"birthday-joy","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/birthday-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Birthday Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A successful Giving Joy Day <\/span>commemorates an Eastern anniversary. <\/span><\/h2>\n

E<\/span>astern has for decades<\/span> celebrated the anniversary of its founding during the first week of April. In more recent years, EWU\u2019s birthday celebration has included an opportunity for Eagles to mark the occasion by giving gifts of support.<\/span><\/p>\n

Giving Joy Day brings together both the spirit of service and the generosity of donors. It now serves as the university\u2019s largest, single-day philanthropic event, raising funds that fill crucial gaps for students and programs. \u201cLast year, we raised more than $456,000 for student scholarships and program support,\u201d says Linda Safford, EWU\u2019s director of annual giving. \u201cWith our community\u2019s help, this year we exceeded our $500,000 goal \u2014 funds that will go right to work helping our students stay in school and earn their degrees.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GivingSamuel Steege is one of those students. For this year\u2019s event, Steege, a hardworking 22-year-old communications studies major, took a moment to share his story \u2014 and his gratitude \u2014 for the supporters who helped him continue along his path to an EWU degree.<\/p>\n

With our community\u2019s help, this year we exceeded our $500,000 goal \u2014 funds that will go right to work helping our students stay in school and earn their degrees.<\/p>\n

On a breezy day last August, Steege says, he was working the afternoon shift at Cheney\u2019s Farmhouse Caf\u00e9 when his cellphone started buzzing. It was an urgent call from his dad. A fire had started along Gray Road near Medical Lake, his father said. Steege raced home to help evacuate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two hours later, that fire destroyed their home. Thankfully, no family members or pets were injured. Steege didn\u2019t rely solely on his parents to support his education, but their assistance played a crucial part in making ends meet. When the fire made further financial help impossible, the\u00a0EWU Student Emergency Fund\u00a0\u2014 one of the many worthy causes supported by Giving Joy Day donors \u2014 stepped up to fill the gap.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good to know that there are resources to help in such a crazy, unexpected time like this,\u201d says Steege, who is one step closer to his dream career in sports communication thanks, in part, to those \u201cgenuinely nice people\u201d who support EWU students.<\/span><\/p>\n

Giving Joy Day 2024 is over, but you can still join in the joy. Visit\u00a0ewu.edu\/give<\/b>\u00a0to learn more.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A successful Giving Joy Day commemorates an Eastern anniversary. Eastern has for decades celebrated the anniversary of its founding during the first week of April. In more recent years, EWU\u2019s birthday celebration has included an opportunity for Eagles to mark the occasion by giving gifts of support. Giving Joy Day brings together both the spirit…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":923,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-2848","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-giving","stories_tags-spring-summer-2024"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_featured_image":false,"display_byline":false,"display_date_published":false,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false,"page_override_title":"","page_persona_bar_default_tab":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/2848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/2848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86701,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/2848\/revisions\/86701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}