'A tremendous weight was lifted off of me.': UM helping students during COVID-19
MONTEVALLO, Ala. — For Alexander Wilson, the past few weeks have been trying.
Wilson, a senior at the University of Montevallo, is also a licensed hair cosmetologist. Due to recent restrictions, he is unable to work. Not having a steady source of income was getting stressful.
"I was saying to myself, how am I going to make ends meet?" Wilson said. "If you are a budgeter, you know how to budget out your money, and you know what you are going to pay for, how much is going to be left over, but with not working, I was not able to do that budget. I was thinking to myself, how am I going to get this paid because I know this is coming. It was a stressful thing, but I was able to receive help."
Help came in the form of the University of Montevallo's COVID-19 Student Relief Fund. The fund was set up towards the end of March, and donations would go towards students that applied so they could help take care of their basic needs, like rent and utilities. The donations ranged from $50 to $250, and students typically only receive a one-time donation, but can get it again under special circumstances.
Senior Director of Development for the university, Kelli Holmes said so far, more than $40,000 has been raised by various people including alumni and others, and hundreds of students have benefited from it. Holmes says there is still a long way to go, and students reach out daily inquiring about funds. She says some students maybe did not need any assistance when the program was first launched, but do now. She added the amount of gratitude from the students was amazing, bolstered by numerous spoken and written thank-yous.
"At a university, you do not just worry about your job," Holmes said. "You have to worry about students because students are the reason that we are all here. Everyone had to put themselves aside and say what do we do for our clients, which are these students. Some of them, their parents were losing their jobs at the same time. They were losing their jobs. They were trying to find places to stay. We had international students that could not go home, and I think it speaks to the Montevallo family, when we all came together to make sure the students received support, it was amazing."
Junior, Courtney Reynolds was another one of the students who benefited from this effort. Reynolds was laid off recently, and this fund helped him cover the rest of his rent for April.
"Had it not been for this fund, I am really unsure of what I would have done because there was just no other way at the time that I would have been able to cover rent in April," Reynolds said. "After my job laid me off, I was able to file for unemployment, and that has definitely prepared me for the next few months. I am going to use that money to cover rent and any other financial things that need to be covered, but I really do not know what I would have done without the fund at that time."
Holmes says anyone can give, and they are hoping if people are able, to give next Tuesday, which is Giving Tuesday. She adds that when all of this has passed, this will remain an emergency fund for students.
"A tremendous weight was lifted off of me just because, I was like, here goes this amount that I was missing from not working, and because they were able to help me, it allowed me to be able to think more and budget more and be able to do what I need to do get back on track," Wilson said.