In only one day, UC Merced raises more than $700,000 for scholarships, projects

UC Merced is celebrating a successful drive to raise money through last week’s Giving Tuesday effort which, in a single day, raised more than $700,000 for scholarships and local projects.

The fund drive held Nov. 29 attracted more than 800 donations, which triggered a three-to-one match for fellowships and scholarships provided by Wells Fargo and Foster Poultry Farms, the university said in a statement.

The donors included alumni, current and former staffers and, for the first time, a current student, said Brenda Ortiz, senior public information representative.

The Christopher Michael Bernal Scholarship Fund is the first to be endowed by a current Bobcat. Bernal, a 21-year-old management and business economics student from Lancaster, said he hopes to become a mentor for students who receive the scholarship. He said he’ll fund the $10,000 endowment by making payments over time.

To qualify for the award, students will come either from Bernal’s alma mater, Eastside High School, or Merced County and be interested in enrolling in UC Merced’s school of social sciences, humanities and arts, he said.

“I ... hope this encourages students to start giving back as students for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity UC Merced has provided us,” Bernal told the Sun-Star on Sunday. “It’s always been my dream to start a scholarship and I wanted to leave a lasting legacy at UC Merced, so I couldn’t let this opportunity go. While I believe that giving money can be an effective way to help relieve stress, it’ll be the time I put in with my recipients that will differentiate the value of becoming a Christopher Bernal Scholar.”

This year’s campaign more than doubled the $316,000 raised in 2015, the university said. The more than $680,000 raised, combined with matching donations for 14 featured funds, plus an additional $34,000 for other projects, amounted to more than $700,000.

Giving Tuesday, now in its third year at UC Merced, kicked off with the first official gift contributed by Chancellor Dorothy Leland.

The fund to raise the most money on Giving Tuesday was the University Friends Circle Scholarship, which drew more than $101,000. The UFC forges relationships between UC Merced and Valley communities through programs that promote social and intellectual interaction, according to the fund’s web page. The group’s endowed scholarship “supports recipients that exhibit leadership skills to organize meaningful service to others, demonstrate an active and ongoing commitment to the Merced community and have had a significant impact in the community as a result of a key project,” it says.

Recent recipients of the scholarship include students honored for their volunteer work, such as Marqose Saephan, who has mentored high school robotics teams, and Dalton Rogers, a political science student from Porterville, as well as the community service award that for two years has gone to Ingenieros Unidos, a student chapter of The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

Other funds that drew significant donations Tuesday were the Shadish Memorial Fellowship, which raised more than $68,000, and the Dream Act Scholarship, which had nearly $55,000 in donations.

This story was originally published December 4, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "In only one day, UC Merced raises more than $700,000 for scholarships, projects."