Posted 4:38 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, 2012
Helping out displaced Drake Hall residents continued last week when the UW-L Alumni Association offered all residents from Drake a $25 Visa gift card, a total of $6,775.
The Alumni Association is proud of how quickly students and staff evacuated the building and is grateful that no one was injured in the fire, says Janie Spencer, executive director of the Alumni Association.
“None of this would be possible without the thousands of alumni who join the Alumni Association each year. It’s thanks to them that we are able to provide alumni programming and support the university and our current students,” says Spencer. “Our hope is that this small gift will help make the students’ transition into their new home a little bit easier.”
The Alumni Association decided a gift card would be the most versatile gift, which students could use for expenses such as dry cleaning, food, supplies and gasoline. When Spencer called Merchants Bank and told them what they wanted to do, the bank also wanted to help support students and agreed to waive the activation fees for the cards. “We really appreciate their support in this effort,” says Spencer.