In an effort to raise money for their Student Emergency Fund, the West Chester University Foundation has joined the AmazonSmile system.
Executive Director Richard Przywara describes the WCU Foundation as a nonprofit organization that raises money for the university. One of their programs is the Student Emergency Fund.
According to Amanda Lauzon, Marketing Director of the WCU Foundation, the Student Emergency Fund was “established to provide for students’ unexpected financial crises, including funds for housing, food, textbooks and tuition.”
In the past two years, over $17,000 has been distributed to students.
Przywara explained that, last time, the WCU Foundation received “dozens and dozens” of applications they could not fund.
According to Przywara, he was shopping on Amazon Prime when he noticed the AmazonSmile program for the first time.
An email from Lauzon explains that “AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you.”
“If you as a buyer on Amazon sign up through AmazonSmile and pick West Chester University Foundation as your charity, one half of one percent of everything you buy is given to us as a contribution,” said Przywara. “So if several hundred students signed up for AmazonSmile and all they did was buy their regular stuff, we could have thousands and thousands of dollars a year available to help students who are in crisis, and nobody at West Chester has to contribute a penny.”
Przywara has expressed his hope that “a couple hundred West Chester students who already use Amazon will simply choose us as their charity, and then next spring, we’ll have thousands of more dollars to help the students.”
“It’s a program they’re really trying to get people to use, and we have a huge student population that could really lend a helping hand,” said Przywara.
Casey Tobias is a second-year student majoring in women’s and gender studies. She can be reached at CT822683@wcupa.edu. Her Twitter is @Casey__Tobias.