Tiger Giving Day, Auburn University’s annual day of giving, is back for its ninth year this week.
The lineup for Wednesday features 45 projects from across campus, ranging from digitizing Auburn Athletics’ fragile film reels to funding field trips for students in grades 6-11 attending Summer STEM Academies.
Other projects include creating a sensory gym for patients in the Auburn University Speech and Hearing Clinic and helping student veterans thrive in the transition from military to academic life by providing access to needed technology.
Established in 2015, Tiger Giving Day provides a platform for grassroots-led projects that are integral to Auburn’s land-grant mission and championed by students, faculty and staff. Donors can visit the Tiger Giving Day website to read about each project and see short video pitches recorded by students and faculty before making a gift.
Tiger Giving Day unites compelling campus and community needs with the generosity of alumni, friends, students and faculty. The crowdfunding aspect of the day allows donors and campus champions alike to see the projects moving closer to their funding goals in real time over the course of 24 hours, highlighting the power of collective giving.
Each featured project needs help reaching its single-day funding goal.
Among the projects featured this year is the Auburn Sustenance Project, a student-led organization that aims to support child development by ensuring Auburn schoolchildren who rely on school-provided meals are fed during school breaks. Funds from Tiger Giving Day would help student leaders purchase needed food storage and distribution tools, including a deep freezer, plastic bins and hand carts.
“Nutrition is a huge factor in child development and education because hunger affects a child’s emotional, developmental and cognitive health. If a child is hungry, they aren’t going to sleep well, be able to focus in class or study well,” said Caroline Purvis, lecturer in the College of Human Sciences’ Department of Human Development and Family Science and faculty advisor for the Auburn Sustenance Project. “Since our students decided to take on this issue in 2021, they’ve provided 95,400 meals and 23,970 snacks to children in Auburn City Schools.”
Another project, Auburn’s SKILL program, provides one-on-one academic support and coaching for undergraduate students with executive function differences, like autism or ADHD. Participating students work with coaches on time management and study strategies and receive weekly action plans and grade tracking.
“Because SKILL is a supplemental fee-based service, some students with great potential aren’t able to access our services,” said Mandi Buckalew, SKILL program director and academic coach. “Support from Tiger Giving Day would allow us to offer coaching at a greatly reduced cost and help more students develop the skills that will help them both in the classroom and in their professional lives. “
Since 2015, Tiger Giving Day donors have funded nearly 300 projects for the university. Gifts can be made at TigerGiving.org.
