Donor Spotlight
We both graduated from Texas Tech University. We had been giving to various organizations at Tech when I happened upon the website for TTU Office of Advancement. I looked at the list of areas of greatest need and found the Burkhart Center for Autism Education and Research. I was interested because our oldest daughter graduated from TTU with both a Bachelor's (2000) and Master's Degree (2002) in Speech Language Pathology. She has a private Speech Therapy practice in Sugarland, Texas and works with children within the Autism spectrum. When I asked her if she knew about Burkhart Center, she told me that it did not exist during her years at Tech, but she looked at the website/mission statement and was impressed. Therefore, we decided to include Burkhart in our Texas Tech donations. We especially like that Burkhart strives to increase the quality of life for autistic individuals and their families, while providing needed services, research, and preparing educators.
Our parents were giving and generous in all aspects of their lives. Therefore, helping others became a natural part of our lives. To give your money/resources, time and/or talents does not always come easily. However, I think that if you once make that decision to give (in whatever way you can), it will empower you and make you feel happier and more fulfilled. Once you start giving the more it creates a desire to give. Giving to improve the lives of others (even in small ways) is a privilege. Acting on these powerful feelings of responsibility is a great way to reinforce our own personal values and feel like we are living in a way that is true to our own beliefs.
It is more important to personally give/donate today, in light of current decreases in other sources of funding and the increased amount of need in our world. The way you spend your time, talent& resources is a personal decision with many variables. However, I think that whatever you decide to support, you do so with a feeling that your support will make a difference or result in a positive outcome. Also, if we share the experience of giving/donating with our children, it is a powerful way of showing them that they can make positive changes in the world. We can all be generous in some way, and generosity is a reflection of our caring for one another.
Finally, strive to help someone each day. Opportunities to help appear to us each day, so be on the lookout for them.
From here anything is possible.
Wreck ‘em Tech
Stan and Linda Reuter Nadolski, ’72