Though small in numbers at its first meeting, the newly-formed Parents’ Council plans to help Loyola in big ways.
Eight families attended the first meeting of the newly-formed group held in the J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library, hosted and created by the Annual Fund and Office of Loyola Alumni.
The families will help with Loyola fundraising promotions in several ways, including ideas for fundraisers, recruitment of prospective students and soliciting local vendors, said Amanda Hembree, the assistant director of Parent Programs.
The families will act as representatives of the student body and were trained in communicating and reaching out to other parents and promoting Loyola’s need for financial gifts, which are deposited in the Annual Fund.
Working alongside the Office of Admissions, the main focus of the council is unrestricted funding and facilitating student recruitment within nearby cities, Hembree said. This effort is meant to counteract the drop in enrollment following Hurricane Katrina, which has greatly affected the fund’s progress and recovery, she said.
Though the reorganization process around campus is still in motion, the council plans to proceed with projects planned prior to Hurricane Katrina and increase the Parents’ Council’s membership to 15 families, Hembree said.
The Annual Fund has held events that include meetings, phone-a-thons, campaigns and dinner banquets for Loyola’s alumni, parents and students in the past years, said Lucy Warburton, director of the Annual Fund. The fund also organizes the Senior Class Gift project on campus, along with other family and faculty campaign functions.
“The program has gone really well overall, with a really good response from alumni and parents,” Warburton said.
In the wake of Katrina, however, the fund has never experienced such a great need for gifts as it has this year, Warburton added. Tracking past donators and alumni has been difficult because many have relocated or changed contact information, she said.
The goal of the council this year is to rebuild the community and push students to take part in the recovery process, according to Warburton.
The Annual Fund and the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations have collaborated before by producing Loyola Parents, a bi-annual newsletter that keeps parents informed about student activities and events. More than 500 parents and 4,000 alumni have supported Loyola each year and the goal is to increase the alumni participation by 25 percent within the next few years, Walburton said.
The next Parent’s Council Meeting, which is invitation only, will be held during 2007’s Loyola Family Weekend, Hembree said.
Rosie Dao can be reached at [email protected].
