Thiel College one-day fundraiser engaging campus community and alumni across America

Posted February 22, 2022 Print

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Thiel College’s one-day online giving event that unites the Thiel community and celebrates the College, is Thursday, Feb. 24.

The theme for this year’s Match Day is “Paws Across America,” which is meant to exemplify the school spirit of the Thiel Community of alumni and friends network that stretches across the nation.

Read more and make an online donation on Match Day.

The distance across the country from New York to Los Angeles is 2,700 miles, so this year, the College has set a goal for all members of the Thiel community to walk, jog, swim, or ride a total of 2,700 miles. To reach this goal, all alumni members were encouraged to begin logging their exercise miles starting in mid-January until Match Day, and as a campus community on February 24, the College’s students, faculty, and staff will walk or jog laps around the Dr. Barry ’70 and Carol ’71 Stamm Track and Field Complex to show their Thiel spirit and to reach that goal of 2,700 miles. Collectively, all the miles traveled by every member of the community will be brought “home” to Greenville on the track on Match Day to represent the unity of the Thiel College Community.

The College’s Paws Across American campaign hopes to set new records this year with a goal of 575 donors. Last year was the eighth annual Match Day, which saw the College top the $1,000,000 mark for funds raised across all eight Match Days. This was thanks to the increased number of 559 donors who contributed $209,000 in total in 2021.

“Match Day is the largest fundraising event of the year at Thiel College,” said Match Day coordinator and Director of Advancement Mark Batt ’87. “It is always exciting to see the campus community support this initiative, and it is also wonderful to see our alumni and friends across the country become involved, not only from a donor standpoint but also for supporting us with activity and spirit for the College.”

Gifts for Match Day go to the College’s Thiel Fund, which is the largest source of unrestricted funds at the College. The Thiel Fund is used to support the areas of greatest need of the College, funding need-based scholarships, academic programming, athletics, and campus improvements. This fund annually provides for the challenges such as unseen expenses, student needs and special opportunities. Match Day is also spurred by fundraising competitions between fraternities and sororities on campus and other organizations, clubs and academic programs. Those affinity groups compete each year to be the top donating organization.