Auburn offers something for everyone on Tiger Giving Day, Feb. 24

Students, faculty lead initiatives with impact across campus, community

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Auburn University’s sixth Tiger Giving Day on Feb. 24 continues the annual tradition of pairing compelling projects with the generosity of students, faculty, alumni, community members and friends. For 24 hours, members of the Auburn Family can support campus-wide projects and see the impact of their gifts through real-time updates on TigerGiving.org.

Since 2015, Tiger Giving Day donors have fully funded more than 150 projects for the university, positively benefitting its students, faculty and nearby communities.

“I have had the opportunity to work with Tiger Giving Day projects every year as a student at Auburn,” said Ada Ruth Huntley, the 2020 president of the Student Government Association, or SGA, and a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, or NPHC. “It has been incredible to see how the Auburn Family comes together from all around the world on Tiger Giving Day to create a better experience for our campus community.”

Tiger Giving Day connects student- and faculty-led initiatives with donors who otherwise might not know about various funding needs. One of this year’s most anticipated student projects features a partnership between NPHC, the governing body for Black Greek organizations, and SGA. These organizations are working together to create the NPHC Legacy Plaza on campus, honoring the contributions of Black Greek letter organizations at Auburn.

“This project is increasing the spaces that recognize the significant contributions of underrepresented members of the Auburn Family,” Huntley said. “It is important that everyone who is affiliated with Auburn feels a part of the family, and this project is a step in that direction.”

Auburn’s Student Veterans Association, or ASVA, has consistently developed Tiger Giving Day projects to help student veterans transition from military to civilian life, including this year’s project raising funds for student veteran scholarships.

“Most people don’t realize that Veterans Affairs benefits are very limited, and a good portion of our student veterans struggle to make ends meet as they support the educational requirements of their family members, as well as their own,” said Justin Schwab, president of the ASVA. “These scholarships will help close the gap for our student veterans, allowing them to purchase the supplies they need to succeed in the pursuit of their degrees.”

Community projects are at the heart of Auburn’s land-grant mission and allow such organizations as Auburn’s Center for Autism Research, Treatment and Training to remove financial barriers to their services for children with autism.

“I believe the Auburn Family loves to support projects that are geared toward supporting the university and the community,” said Nadia Bhuiyan, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychology and the Auburn University Psychological Services Center clinic director. “Through the funds we raise, we will be able to not only offer high-quality and affordable services to members of the community, but we are also able to support the Auburn University student experience by improving their educational, research and training experience.”

Long-time donor favorites are also returning, including the wheelchair basketball team, the Gene Machine, Campus Kitchens and Canine Performance Sciences, as well as the Southeastern Raptor Center, or SRC, with a project to build a new aviary, raising the quality of care for the more than 300 raptor patients that rehabilitate in the center each year.

“With the addition of this new aviary, we will be able to not only house more raptors, but our hope is that this will also reduce the amount of time raptors need to spend in rehabilitation,” said Andrew Hopkins, the assistant director for raptor training and education. “People who support this project will change the SRC for decades and will be giving our raptors a second chance to live in the wild.”

The more than 30 projects in this year’s giving day also include installing life-size chimes on the grounds of the Gogue Performing Arts Center; designing a digital reconstruction of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, to preserve the history of the civil rights movement; exhibiting art education to the community via a mobile museum; and providing care packages for residents in assisted living facilities, among others.

Each Tiger Giving Day project is unique, but they all depend on support from the Auburn Family. Donors can give to as many projects as they choose before midnight on Feb. 24 through TigerGiving.org. The official hashtag for the event is #TigerGivingDay.

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Auburn University is a nationally ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite, top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with Carnegie’s Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students, and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global needs. Auburn’s commitment to active student engagement, professional success and public/private partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact.