Information provided by Gavilan College
Gavilan College announced it received a $40,000 check in April addressed to Superintendent/President Kathleen Rose.
“The donation seemed at first to be made anonymously but after some research it was revealed, a former mentee and long-time friend of Dr. Rose had made it in honor of Rose’s 40+ years in higher education and her upcoming retirement,” the release said.
This is the largest one-time donation received by the college.
“I reached out to the donor, and she made it clear she wanted to remain anonymous. She was thankful for the guidance I provided in her career and never forgot that,” Rose said. “The most important thing for her is for these funds to go to our most in need students at Gavilan. Therefore, it was quite an easy decision to immediately make $20,000 of the funds available to our basic student needs program on campus, El Centro, and the other $20,000 to the Gavilan Foundation for student scholarships.”
Gavilan said some options to use the funds are expanding their product delivery program into the year 2022-23 as current funding will expire on June 30, providing just-in-time transportation grants to students who need assistance through the basic needs referral form and providing emergency utility grants to students struggling financially through the basic needs referral form.
“I am so grateful to our anonymous donor for valuing the work of El Centro and recognizing how El Centro will contribute to student success,” Said Annette Gutierrez, director of Basic Needs and Success, who also manages Gavilan’s El Centro. “The El Centro Advisory committee will meet in May to discuss the best use of funds to ensure that we are meeting student needs in a timely manner.”
The press release said El Centro connects with students through classroom presentations, social media, monthly newsletters, email lists, in addition to El Centro Canvas Community. It added El Centro has offered bi-weekly food distributions, financial literacy workshop series, and CalFresh Application assistance.
