Support the Grebel Fund today

“Who sits outside your comfort zone?

Who challenges your assumptions?

What would it take to imagine them as a neighbour?”

I asked these questions to students, faculty, and staff at Grebel’s Opening Celebration in September, as we marked the beginning of the academic year. This year, our theme is a question: 
“Who is my neighbour?” 

It’s a question that a lawyer asks Jesus in response to the commandment to “love your neighbour.” Jesus answers with the story of a model neighbour who helps a man in need. But the twist is that the “Good Samaritan” isn’t someone Jesus’ listeners would think of as one of them. Jesus affirms an outsider, the Samaritan, as the one who acts as a neighbour should, after the man’s actual neighbours refuse to help.

Every year at Grebel, strangers come together and become neighbours. It’s not always easy to live and study with people who see the world differently. But learning to do so is one of the most valuable parts of the Grebel experience. Students learn how to build trust in a world too often driven by division.

Building that kind of community is hard work, and it requires all kinds of resources — including money. Your gift to the Grebel Fund supports our students in becoming “good neighbours” — people who have learned habits of dialogue, deep listening, and respect for difference. Skills that our world desperately needs.

The Grebel Fund finances service trips and internships, guest speakers, the Chaplaincy, musical ensembles, and other programs that enable Grebel to be a unique community. It also helps provide the scholarships and financial aid that make our community more accessible for a wider range of students.

Please give to the Grebel Fund today and support our students in becoming “good neighbours.” Your gift helps shape our students into people who bridge divides and engage difference with grace and courage. 

With gratitude, 

Marcus Shantz (BA '95)
President | Conrad Grebel University College