Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2020

For this issue of Cedarville Magazine , Rick Melson, Vice President for Advancement, discusses the generosity of Cedarville friends and family during the pandemic, the CU Give Hope fund that provided scholarships for students whose families were hit hard by COVID-19, and ways that alumni and supporters can come alongside the University at this time. Q How has the generosity of Cedarville family and friends made a difference for the University during the pandemic? A By God’s grace, we are grateful to have entered the global pandemic in a healthy financial position because of record giving from generous financial supporters, and wise budgeting and financial resource stewardship by University leadership. We are humbled that we continue to weather the pandemic well, most certainly by the grace and provision of God. We ended the 2019–2020 fiscal year with the highest giving in the history of Cedarville University, even in the midst of a global pandemic, with over $13.3 million given by thousands of alumni, donors, and friends toward scholarships, endowments, global outreach, student life, chapel, academic and athletic programs, and new facilities. This fall we dedicated a new 282-bed residence hall in honor of Pat Bates, George Dunn, and James Parker ’64; we opened a new 300-seat dining facility with Chick-fil-A and Tossed; and we opened a new civil engineering academic building — a total of $25 million in new buildings that are all debt-free. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Q What is Cedarville doing to support students and families in the current climate of economic uncertainty? A Cedarville University is a family, and for generations we have seen faithful members of the Cedarville family step up to provide scholarships through annual gifts to the Cedarville Fund and annually funded and endowed scholarships that now total more than 300 named donor- funded scholarships awarded to hundreds of students each MAKING A DIFFERENCE DURING THE PANDEMIC ADVANCING CEDARVILLE 30 | Cedarville Magazine