Quarters for Queensland Helps Sister School Half a World Away

Published: February 03, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes

You can’t do much with a quarter. It won’t buy you a small order of French fries. It’s not enough to rent a movie. And it’s certainly not enough to put gas in your car. Even still, one quarter a day is enough to benefit an entire community half a world away.

In an effort to benefit the flooded communities of Queensland, Australia – home to one of Southern Utah University’s 16 international partner institutions, Central Queensland University – SUU’s Center for Global Engagement has issued an action call to the Thunderbird community: cash in your loose change for a good cause in the Quarters for Queensland fundraiser currently underway across campus.

Quarters for Queensland donation cans have been placed all over campus and will remain there through February 11.

With an understanding of the tight budgets most college students maintain, the project is focusing on encouraging small daily donations. In fact, if every one of SUU’s 8000+ students and 700+ faculty and staff donated just 25 cents each day in this, the fundraiser’s final week, the Thunderbird community would collectively contribute nearly $20,000 to the home of its sister institution. Turns out a quarter can make quite an impact.

At Central Queensland University’s request, 100 percent of proceeds raised from SUU’s Quarters for Queensland will be sent to the Queensland Premier’s Disaster Relief Fund.

This fundraiser is yet another example of Southern Utah University’s merits when it comes to the recent – and very prestigious – Community Engagement classification granted by the esteemed Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

From its administration through its curriculum and students, SUU places an emphasis on civic and global engagement through the University’s newly established experiential education component. Quarters for Queensland is the latest in a very long list of service-learning initiatives that provide students a broader worldview and deeper understanding of their potential impact for good.

In addition to collecting loose change, the Center for Global Engagement, in partnership with SUU’s Service and Learning Center, has created additional avenues for the campus community to get involved in assisting a community that has lost nearly everything in the recent Queensland floods. A table in the Sharwan Smith Center mall with information about the flood and how to donate will remain staffed through the week.

The Service and Learning Center has also been hosting a table for direct donation collection in the Centrum before and after recent campus sporting events, including the February 5 and February 10 basketball games.

---

Contact Information:

435-586-5400
Contact the Office of Marketing Communication