Love of dance landed Jennifer Person on the Jorgensen Auditorium stage for June recitals during the years she studied with a local dance studio. Fond memories of the lights and the backstage bustle are the reason she now makes an annual financial gift to the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.
“I was so lucky to have this professional venue right in my own backyard,” says Person, who is payroll director for UConn. “I choose to give to Jorgensen because of everything the stage has given me, and to make sure it remains supported so others can experience and enjoy its magic.”
The joy of giving is something Person shares happily with others, as she co-chairs the annual Close to Home Campaign that gives UConn faculty and staff an opportunity to make a gift to the University. Since it began nine years ago, the campaign encourages employees, including emeriti and retired faculty and staff, to make a gift of any amount to any area personally meaningful to them, whether it’s support for students, a specific school or college, the Health Center, the performing arts or a museum, or athletics. Last year, more than 1,000 current staff and faculty made gifts totaling nearly $750,000, while nearly $880,000 was given by 400 emeriti and retired staff members.
With campaign co-chair Rob Hoskin, associate professor of accounting, Person reminds faculty and staff that the challenging economy and the state budget situation make their financial support – in any amount – especially important. “It’s not the size of the gift; it’s the participation that matters most,” Person and Hoskin tell their colleagues around the University.
“About 14 percent of faculty and staff contributed last year,” says Karen Santasiere, director of annual giving at the UConn Foundation. “This year, we hope to reach a 20 percent contribution rate. Funds raised through the campaign can generally be used immediately, so we can provide current operations funding, and enhance areas when and where critical needs arise.”
Hoskin says he has found a variety of University causes he enjoys supporting. “My wife and I have a life-long love of the arts and have consistently given to support Jorgenson programs. We also donated to the opera program, because our daughter was an opera major in the School of Fine Arts.” In addition, Hoskin has been both a donor to and participant in the Calhoun Challenge Ride to support cancer research, riding with a team sponsored by a former student and his business.
To honor his parents since they passed away, he endowed the “Hoskin If We Rest We Rust” scholarship, using the motto of his parents’ graduating class, North Eaton High School, North Eaton, Ohio, class of 1933. “My Dad lived up to the motto all his life, and it serves as an inspiration to me when I feel like I should just ‘rest’ for a while,” says Hoskins. “Hopefully, the scholarship will inspire the recipient not to rest and rust. It fits very well with my own outlook of life-long learning.”
For more information or to make a donation to the Close to Home Campaign, please visit the campaign website.