Meet Cheryl Lamm: Friend in Action
Cheryl Lamm bleeds orange and blue. As a Director for Community Relations for a private company in Elmhurst, IL, Cheryl understands the importance of a good education, the power of communication and the value of giving back. An Illini Leadership Council co-chair, and guest speaker for the 2009 Student Affairs Reunion, she remains tied to Illinois even today. When we caught up with her, Cheryl was sending an email to fellow Illini about the new Emergency Dean Fund recently added within Student Affairs. Cheryl writes:
"Dear Illini Friends – When I was a student at the University of Illinois, I remember the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity house fire. It was a devastating tragedy. The guys had the clothes on their back, books they carried and not much more. The guys felt so lost; but thankfully they had a network -- many of the guys came to eat at my sorority house; others found housing from friends and out-of-house fraternity brothers. We donated extra toothbrushes, personal hygiene items, bedding and some clothes. But, what if these guys didn’t have a strong social network or campus friends to help them out?
The current financial crisis impacts us all. For those of us blessed with jobs, we still wonder, “what if...” What if we were still students and our friends or parents couldn’t help us out (or didn’t help us out). Where could we turn in times of trouble?
Well, I just learned about and chose to support a new fund at the University of Illinois, the Emergency Dean Fund. It falls under Student Affairs, and will kick-off this Fall.
Think of it as the “Red Cross for students.” The Emergency Dean Fund will help students who experience an apartment fire, lose a loved one, or whose parents lose their job. These financial hardships can be traumatic, and may make it difficult for a student to continue or complete his/her education. The “on-call” Associate Dean of Students, who deals with these emergencies on a regular basis, will have access to these funds for these emergencies and more.
I just made my donation to the University of Illinois Foundation and wrote “Emergency Dean Fund” in the memo section, along with my company Matching Gift form, and sent it to the Student Affairs Advancement team.
If you are able to make an initial gift to get this fund started, I know it will make a huge difference in a student’s life. If you can’t support the Emergency Dean Fund, perhaps you can forward this to other Illini who might be willing to support a young man or woman like the ones I described above.
Thank you on behalf of all the future students that will benefit from your generosity. "
On behalf of Student Affairs, we couldn't be more grateful to Cheryl as an alum and as an ambassador for the Emergency Dean Fund...and Illinois--Go Illini!
What Students are Saying