It was a fast-paced 36 hours as the KU Chabad Center raised more than $260,000 through the #JewhawkMatch campaign. Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel, who co-directs Chabad at KU along with his wife Nechama, said he hopes these additional funds help “support the students during these vulnerable times, with mental health programming, Shabbat dinners, outreach and a welcoming community”.
Chabad teamed up with a crowd-sourcing website Charidy. The challenge included several donors who offered to match each donation once the goal was reached. If the goal is reached — and it was — the funds were basically quadrupled through these matches.
Chabad set up a virtual control room, with students joining in from around the country. Throughout the day, students made phone calls and engaged their followers on social media.
Brooke Rubin, a freshman from Highland Park, Illinois, said KU Chabad has been her anchor during a very difficult first semester in college. “The rabbi and his wife have become like our surrogate parents, always looking for us and embracing with open arms. There is so much going on during my first semester at college, but whenever I come to Chabad, I feel safe and secure as we all feel like one family supporting each other,” Rubin said.
Junior Jaxson King from Tulsa, Oklahoma, said Chabad has given him countless positive experiences. “Through JewishU and Friday night Shabbats, I have gained knowledge and appreciation for my Judaism. Going into college I didn’t know if I would have kept in touch with my Judaism, but I believe that thanks to Chabad I am now more in touch with my faith than I have ever been. This is just one reason why I am helping this amazing opportunity to allow Chabad to continue educating and enhancing Judaism on KU campus,” King wrote in his post.
A total of 376 individuals — parents, alumni, students and members of the community — made donations. The total, after the matching grants, came to $262,401.
“We are overwhelmed, touched, and inspired by the love and support of so many people from all over,” said Tiechtel. “How can we highlight our gratitude? The only way we know how; to dedicate and rededicate ourselves with that love to the work we do here at KU. And now, with 376 ‘infantrymen’ at our back, success is surely imminent.”
