Illini Dads Association announces 2019 grant winners
Jim Jones poses with his daughter at the Illini Dads 5k on Sunday.
November 6, 2019
The Illini Dads Association has just given $14,431 total to nine different organizations, exceeding their fundraising goals for the year.
The association, a non-profit organization formed in 1922, is one of the oldest and longest-running parent collegiate organizations in the country and helps organize and operate events for the University’s Dads Weekend every year in conjunction with the Illini Union Parent and Family Programs Office.
The net proceeds from Dads Weekend go towards the association’s philanthropic activities, including the annual grants provided to organizations on campus.
The association awarded $2,000 to IlliniMedia to help rebuild WPGU’s radio station after a recent flooding incident.
It awarded $2,000 each to the University’s MarkerGirl Academy, which works with elementary school girls in Champaign County to teach STEM using 3D printing, and the Jubilee Cafe, connected to the Community United Church of Christ, which provides meals to food-insecure University students, churchgoers and those without permanent addresses and the Students Consulting for Nonprofit Organization.
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The University of Illinois Police Department received $1,931 in order to purchase a new bicycle to increase bicycle patrols.
The association gave $1,500 to Colleges Against Cancer and $1,000 to the Illinois XC Club, working to foster a competitive and friendly environment for runners, the Engineers in Action Bridge Program, which will help design and build a bridge for rural communities in Bolivia or Eswatini and Acts Campus Ministry at UIUC.
The Illini Dads Association also awards $2,000 scholarships to exceptional students with financial needs.
“This year, we are excited to have exceeded our fundraising goals to allow us to award grant money to so many deserving organizations,” said Chuck Dushman, president of the Illini Dads Association, in a press release. “When we looked at the needs and visions of all of the organizations, each one of them (was) extremely worthy, but we are excited how these nine recipients will utilize the grants to make a difference in the world around them.”
