With Giving Tuesday just around the corner, alumnus Andrew Grimson shares his story on the value of giving back to United College.
Andrew Grimson was an engineering student at the University of Waterloo and lived in the United College residence between 1977 and 1980. During his time in United, Andrew made lifelong friendships with classmates and has stayed in touch over the years because of the positive impact that living in a small community had on developing his career. Coming from Saskatchewan, Andrew acknowledges the importance of living in a tight knit community.
Living at United was key to surviving the engineering program.
Andrew’s appreciation for United College runs deep and has inspired him to participate in past Giving Tuesday campaigns and to include United College in his estate planning.
If I can help someone similar to me who comes from out of province or country, I want to help them to succeed through the community provided by United College.
Andrew shared how important it is that his gifts be directly benefiting the Indigenous community within United College and is very pleased to see what has been done with reconciliation for the indigenous communities throughout Canada.
For me, it’s about giving back and paying it forward. If I can help to contribute towards giving kids with challenging backgrounds an opportunity to get a degree and go and do great things in life, then that is fantastic.
Andrew explains the value of creating a community environment and expresses the importance in funding programs that help within United.
Of the donations that I make to the University of Waterloo, a big chunk goes to United. Anything to give anyone an opportunity to flourish.
Andrew’s favourite aspect of what United College has to offer, and his reason for donating lies within the sense of community that continues to prosper years after his stay. He went on to discuss all the yearly traditions that made United College become so special to him including community dinners, stereo wars, Toast time, the Black Forest coffeehouse and little spur of the moment things like getting together for simple floor parties.
He notes the most important thing for students to receive funding for is overall living expenses as everyone comes from all different financial situations, but that should not affect their ability to get an education.
They need to not be worried about food or living cost. I want to be able to give anybody there a good safe place to be that’s clean and conducive to studying and have enough food to eat.
Andrew has made a tremendous impact through his donations and hopes his story will inspire others to donate to United College this Giving Tuesday.
I invest time, energy, and money in people who I believe are going to make a difference in the future.