Supporting Eagle students. From right: Bruttles Gourmet Candies owners John \u201904 and Jessica Slack, with EWU Foundation Board member Jennifer Mandarino \u201994.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBy day\u2019s end, the university had raised more than $400,000 for student scholarships, aid programs and other university priorities, says Linda Safford, senior director for annual giving.<\/p>\n
At the center of the festivities was an event at Eastern\u2019s PUB, where Kelsey Hatch-Brecek, director of alumni relations, led a gathering of students, faculty and staff who shared stories of donors\u2019 impact.<\/p>\n
President Shari McMahan also addressed the event, highlighting how Eastern has always been a place of access and opportunity. \u201cWe transform lives, that is the bottom line,\u201d she told the crowd. \u201cAnd these generous donations might mean a student can stay in school, access an internship and feel a sense of belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n
ASEWU Vice President Johnny Curtis confirmed the role scholarships play in the success of students like him. \u201cI can say with complete honesty that without the support of donors and fundraising efforts, I would not be standing here preparing to graduate this June.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Giving Joy come as the university enters its eighth year of its ongoing \u201cBuild Our Future: the Campaign for Eastern\u201d fundraising effort. The $100 million comprehensive campaign, EWU\u2019s first-ever, is aimed at positioning Eastern to ensure its students succeed in ways that sustain vibrant, prosperous communities. Thanks to the donors\u2019 generosity thus far, the Build Our Future campaign has received contributions totaling more than $86 million toward its goal.<\/p>\n
Miss your chance to join in the Joy? Visit ewu.edu\/give<\/i><\/a> to learn how you can help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once again, donors make EWU\u2019s annual giving event a success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":2865,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-86779","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-giving","stories_tags-spring-summer-2026"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_byline":false,"display_featured_image":false,"display_date_published":false,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_override_title":"","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false,"page_persona_bar_default_tab":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86779","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":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86917,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86779\/revisions\/86917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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