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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uzrOMM_AVI

UPDATE: Feb. 15  – 12:00 a.m.

6,111 donors!

What a day! Thank you to all who showed your love for the College of the Holy Cross. Because of your passion, the “I Love HC” challenge was a resounding and record–breaking success! Your generosity directly benefits our students, supporting financial aid, academic and faculty resources, faith and service initiatives, and athletics.

Today we surpassed the record for all liberal arts colleges for the number of donors to a 24-hour giving challenge, held by Colgate since 2013.

You are outstanding. Let’s shout it from the rooftops! Please accept our profound thanks for an incredible demonstration of love!

More to follow.

UPDATE: Feb. 14  – 10:40 p.m.

​We have just set the all-time record for donors (5,684) to a 24-hour giving challenge, originally set by Colgate University in 2013.

UPDATE: Feb. 14  – 8:30 p.m.

We have reached 5,000 donors and we have 3 hours left to break records! A group of anonymous alumni will give Holy Cross an additional $200,000 to see how high we can go.  Today, our community demonstrated why it was recently ranked No. 12 among colleges and universities in the U.S. in Princeton Review’s new list, “Best Alumni Network.” Show your love today. We have until midnight (EST).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=146EKYGprx0

UPDATE: Feb. 14  – 6:00 p.m.

Over the last 16 hours, you have propelled us beyond our goal of 4,000 donors. With 8 hours to go, let’s get to 5,000. If you have not yet shown your love, and made a gift, do so before midnight. http://bit.ly/ILoveHC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skb22OMz3Vg

UPDATE: Feb. 14  – 5:30 p.m.

4000 donors!

UPDATE: Feb. 14  – 3:03 p.m.

We just surpassed 3,000 donors.  Nine hours remain to show your love.  http://gvcmp.us/pb47e7

UPDATE: Feb. 14  – 12:00 p.m.

With our 2,000 donor, we are halfway there to 4,000! 12 hours remain.  Show your love today: http://gvcmp.us/pb47e7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_yhBEMIW8g

UPDATE: Feb. 14  – 9:38 a.m.

We have reached 1,000 donors toward our goal of 4,000. Show your love today: http://gvcmp.us/pb47e7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvmxnWGxPCg

On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, Holy Cross will embark on a 24-hour fundraising challenge. If 4,000 alumni, parents, students, and members of the campus community make a gift on Valentine’s Day, a small group of donors will contribute $1 million to the effort. Last year’s “Give Purple” challenge broke fundraising records and garnered the College widespread national attention.

This year’s challenge is centered around the question, “What do you love about Holy Cross?” All members of the College community are invited to take part in what will certainly be an exciting day, as classes challenge one another.

Gifts to the challenge will impact all aspects of life on campus, from supporting financial aid to enhancing academic and co-curricular programming. A gift of any size will make a tangible difference in the lives of students today — and will extend to those whose lives their dedication and compassion will touch tomorrow.

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Twenty-year-old David Vasquez stood on stage at Seelos Theatre and walked the captivated audience through the many struggles of his young life: joining a gang at age 12, getting arrested multiple times and impregnating his girlfriend. Ultimately, he recounted, life had dealt so many blows that he knew change was the only viable path forward.

“I realized I had two choices: To go back on the streets or to be in my daughter’s life,” he said.

That’s when a well-meaning relative recommended Vasquez meet Rev. Gregory Boyle, S.J., founder and executive director of the Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and reentry program in the world. Boyle, recipient of an honorary degree from Holy Cross in 1998, returned to Holy Cross Monday night to share his story and the impact of his social-justice-driven mission with students.

That story started in 1988, Boyle shared in an earlier interview, when he founded Jobs For a Future, a program in Los Angeles for recovering gang members and at-risk youth. The City of Angels is known as the “dropout epicenter” of America, he said, and its adolescents struggle with a high rate of recidivism; statistics show that more than half of offenders are rearrested and up to one-third of that population is re-incarcerated within just a few years, according to Homeboys Industries’ website.

Over time, the organization grew into an international, 18-month rotational program that offers participants — or “homies,” as Boyle affectionately calls them — job training, tattoo removal, substance abuse treatment, therapy, education and legal assistance. The idea, Boyle said, is to create a support system and foundation of learning for participants, ultimately motivating them to improve their conduct and avoid future incarceration. Today, Homeboy Industries works with nearly 10,000 people a year, and serves as a model for more than 70 partner organizations in cities all over the world.

Ordained a priest in 1984, Boyle has dedicated much of his life to social justice causes. He was chaplain in the Islas Marias Penal Colony in Mexico and at Folsom prison and worked with Christian Base Communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He was awarded the Civic Medal of Honor, the California Peace Prize, and in 2011 was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

Homeboy Industries’ successful model, Boyle said, is based on a network of kinship that provides community-based alternatives to gang violence, addiction and incarceration. He places emphasis on meditating and trying to find God in all things.

“My job is not to save these guys or to reach them,” he said. “It’s selfish, but my goal is to be reached by them. When you allow yourself to receive, you can savor the world and it will be saved.”

Boyle’s model has served 23-year-old Ruben Ruiz well. Ruiz, another homie who joined Boyle and Vasquez onstage, grew up in an environment he described as full of “gangster love” where he felt pressured to “be tough on the streets.” One trip to Homeboy Industries convinced him it was time to change. By shedding his gang name and removing his tattoos, he said, he now feels like he doesn’t have to hide his real self. He’s now working towards his dream of obtaining a college education. He credits “Father Greg” who taught him how to speak and how to listen — how to love himself and others, and most importantly, how to count his blessings and take hold of his aspirations.

Many students, including Raha Maalin ’17, walked away from the presentation with a deep appreciation for Boyle’s work.

“Fr. Boyle’s genuine empathy for others, and his ability to live in solidarity is both sincere and moving,” she said. “He truly understands the complex identities of the people he interacts with and is able to approach them with empathy.”

The event was presented by the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.

Watch the talk below:

Edward J. Ludwig ’73 and Yachira M. Torres ’10 come from different eras of Holy Cross history. To give just one example, the College was still all-male when Ed arrived on Mount St. James. Yachira, on the other hand, would be hard-pressed to imagine a Holy Cross without the presence and participation of women. However different their experience of the College might be, these two Crusaders are both deeply passionate about education — and in total agreement regarding the need to create opportunities for the marginalized and the underserved.

Ed is the former chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Becton, Dickinson and Company, a medical technology company. A Certified Public Accountant, Ed received his master of business administration degree from Columbia University. A former Trustee of the College, Ed is a member of the President’s Council Benefactors Circle. Ed and his wife, Kathleen, live in Manhattan. They created the Joseph H. Maguire ’58 Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarship assistance to first-generation college students from Worcester who are accepted to Holy Cross.

Yachira was born in Puerto Rico, and moved to Worcester at the age of four. “I came to Holy Cross from a low-income, non-English speaking family. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. I worked hard in high school so that I could attend a place like Holy Cross. That was my dream. In my senior year, I was elated to learn that I’d been accepted — and then crestfallen when I realized I could not afford to attend.” Yachira says that her “prayers were answered” when she received the Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Scholarship. Since her graduation from Holy Cross in 2010, Yachira has donated to the College every year. She is an 8th grade lead teacher at Nativity School of Worcester.

In the Jesuit tradition, Holy Cross is committed to educating every student who qualifies, regardless of his or her ability to afford tuition. “The College’s commitment to financial aid is a top priority,” says Tracy Barlok, vice president for Advancement. “We are so grateful to individuals like Ed Ludwig, who share our values and vision regarding the transformational importance of higher education.”

Recently, Ed and Yachira sat down to discuss the impact Holy Cross has had on their lives, and their shared passion for education and philanthropy.

YACHIRA: It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Ed. When I first heard about your interest in scholarships, I thought, “Great minds think alike!”

ED: Well, it appears Holy Cross minds certainly do. Would you tell me more about your background, Yachira? Because it sounds like you were very much the kind of individual we had in mind when my wife and I began thinking about how best to invest in the College.

YACHIRA: Sure. I moved to Worcester from Puerto Rico when I was four years old. And Worcester quickly became my home, my community. My mother was my rock. A single, working mother, she impressed on me from the beginning the value of education, hard work, and responsibility to others. I grew up in the inner city, in the Plumley Village housing project. I was a public school kid. I went to North High, and I just worked as hard as I could, hoping that one day I’d have the opportunity for a first-rate education at a great college.

ED: Your mother sounds like an amazing woman.

YACHIRA: She certainly is. She wanted more for me. English was not her first language and she’d had no opportunity for higher education. But she wanted it for me. She never stopped encouraging me, helping me. She realized what it means to be educated and the importance of having a quality education. And not only what it means for you, as an individual, but what it means in terms of uplifting your own family through education. This was a value that she had instilled in me very early on. Go to school, do well. Be successful, but also enjoy what you’re learning. My mom believed in me. You know, no one does it alone.

ED: That’s exactly correct. And important to remember. I was also fortunate to have an amazing family and hear similar messages. My mom and dad were from the Bronx. When I was two years-old, they moved the family to a little town in New Jersey. I was the oldest of five kids. My dad was an operating engineer in the city. He ran cranes and such on construction projects. Hard work. My mother worked at home, took care of us. I went to a public grammar school, but we had our eyes on the Catholic high school. And my parents just instilled that ethic in me. If you work hard and study hard and do your best, you’ll get there. Every time we ever drove past the high school, we’d hear the same thing: You study hard and you get to go to a good school. That was the mantra in our house.

YACHIRA: How did you end up at Holy Cross?

ED: It’s funny. I went to Holy Cross almost completely by accident. Basically, the guidance counselor at Bergen Catholic and I went through a series of schools. I was accepted at both Holy Cross and Boston College. I chose Holy Cross. And the first time I ever saw the campus was on the day I arrived. I went in blind. So what a relief when I saw how beautiful Mount St. James was. It was everything you could ask for. And then, as often happens with the Holy Cross experience, I met my mentor. And he changed my whole life.

YACHIRA: That’s amazing. Who was that?

ED: That was Dean Joe Maguire ’58. Joe was a professor of educational psychology. He lived in Mulledy Hall with us. He was something of a parent figure for us — an older brother or an uncle. As well as a bit of a father-confessor. He was my class dean. And he was amazing. You know, we talk about how Holy Cross makes you a man or a woman for others. Well, Joe was a man for others. He was an inspiration. His door was always open. If you needed him, he was there. And he was wise. And kind. We became good friends. He got to know my parents, my siblings, and, eventually, my wife, Kathy. He used to spend New Year’s Eve with us! One of those classic Holy Cross people who take a genuine and selfless interest in what happens to you. In helping you shape your life in the best way possible.

YACHIRA: So that’s why you endowed a scholarship in his name.

ED: Exactly. During the last fundraising campaign, Kathy and I made a gift to create the Joseph H. Maguire ’58 Endowed Scholarship Fund, for first-generation college attendees. It seemed quite fitting to us. Joe was also a first-generation college student. It seemed to us a great way to honor Joe and all he had done for me. And for so many other students. In fact, I’d like to use this opportunity to encourage anyone who was blessed to know Joe to consider contributing to the Maguire Scholarship Fund in his memory.

YACHIRA: I would have been a candidate for the Maguire Scholarship if it had existed in my day.

ED: But you were able to find funding to attend the College.

YACHIRA: Yes. I still think it’s an amazing story. I worked so hard with my eyes on the prize — the prize being Holy Cross, one of the best schools in the country. And then, in my senior year, I was accepted. My mother and I were just thrilled. I can’t even convey how happy we were. But almost immediately after that happiness, we realized I couldn’t afford to go. We went from thrilled to devastated. And that’s when something extraordinary happened. I don’t think anything happens by accident. You know, you were speaking of Joe Maguire taking an interest in your future. In my experience, that is the essence of Holy Cross. The people in admissions and in financial aid and the Jesuits all took an interest in me and my future. And I received the Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Scholarship. Our prayers were answered. I’ve always felt it was so appropriate that the scholarship was named after this amazing Jesuit who represented my own interests and values.

ED: I love your story, Yachira. My thoughts regarding scholarships is both that they are absolutely crucial to our mission. And that it is not simply about writing a check. It’s about giving of yourself, your time, your knowledge, to assist others.

Supporting education is, as you said, about changing lives, changing futures. That’s our principal area of philanthropy at Holy Cross. My wife and I feel that a scholarship is what we call a “cycle-buster.” My wife and I were both beneficiaries of first-rate educations, which gave us a great and meaningful life. You said earlier, “No one does it alone.” I had my parents and teachers and, of course, Joe Maguire counseling me. So for me, giving back means helping to create a foundation where individuals can have this opportunity to become educated and productive and, because of this, eventually also give back to the community. And I know that’s your feeling as well. Not only are you a regular contributor to the College, but you chose a career in education and to work at a Nativity School.

YACHIRA: I believe this is where I was supposed to end up. I actually feel as if, because of having had that scholarship, I have a responsibility to carry out the legacy of Fr. Arrupe. One of the things that scholarship did for me was to enable me to go abroad junior year and study in Spain. While I was in Spain, I kind of lived out his motto of falling in love and staying in love and having that love decide everything. In my case, I fell in love with 10 middle school boys whom I tutored on the island of Mallorca. It grew into a love that became a passion. I knew that I wanted to work in education. I had not taken a single education class before that point.

When I came back my senior year, I took as many education courses as I could before I graduated. And that was because I had met these children. I met Fr. Fagan during the second semester of my senior year and he asked me to visit Worcester Nativity School with him. When I walked in, I knew this was exactly where I was supposed to be, not only working for the Nativity school, but doing the extended work of the Jesuits. To continue to fight the good fight in terms of education with a particularly challenging population. Low-income, inner city boys need all of the love and attention and support that they can get from people who are going to be great role models for them, and who will instill in them the values that my mother instilled in me about education.

ED: That is wonderful, Yachira. Another great Holy Cross story. So much of it is about helping students to discover their own potential. To discover what is possible with support and hard work and an expansive vision.

YACHIRA: We have a graduate support program at Nativity. We help the boys apply and enroll at different high schools. And then we track them through high school and through college as well. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that two of my first students are now students at Holy Cross.

ED: That’s extraordinary. That’s such a perfect example of living the mission. The benefits of this are so abundant for both giver and receiver. We’ve been so fortunate in what we’ve come to experience through our focus on education and scholarships. We’ve gotten to know these amazing students who send us notes and include us in their lives. We exchange birthday cards. We go to the graduations. It’s so enriching and satisfying.

YACHIRA: I teach my 8th graders here to focus on what we call the “Three Ts” — which is Time, Talent, and Treasure. Now, you might not have all three. But when you are showing support for someone else, you’re giving one of them at any given time. You’re sharing your gifts, no matter how little you have. It could be the gift of a conversation. It could be the gift of your presence during a difficult time. And that’s what I try to instill in the kids as well. So, eventually, when they do get the Treasure part going, they’ll be moved to invest in the community, to provide opportunities, to support those most in need.

ED: I’m inspired by your story, Yachira. And I’m excited by it. This is such a fine example of what Holy Cross does so well and so often. You know, we talk about transforming the world. And this is how it’s done. By transforming the individual. It has been wonderful talking with you.

YACHIRA: It’s been great talking with you, Ed. You know, we went to Holy Cross at different times and, inevitably, we had different experiences. But it seems clear we took away the same message and the same vision.

ED: Agreed!

James F. Mooney III ’90 and Lisa M. Mooney have committed to endow ten full scholarships, which together will be known as The “Brooks Fellows” Scholarship Fund. The scholarship fund will support the enrollment of students who have less than full access to the American higher education system and whom the College has a need and a desire to enroll. Criteria for selection of Brooks Fellows include: outstanding academic performance, financial aid need that can’t be met with federal money, and an attractive or unique feature that elevates the Holy Cross community.

Holy Cross sat down with James and Lisa to find out what drives their continued commitment to supporting Holy Cross and its students:

The majority of your giving has centered on scholarship and financial aid. Why this focus? What are you trying to accomplish?

JIM: If you consider it at the highest level, financial aid is essential to the success of private education: elementary, secondary and college. Without it, the system wouldn’t function. If you think about a school populated only with full-pay students — that is not a very vibrant or diverse place and certainly not a place that is likely to have a particularly energizing mission. The availability of scholarships also gives the admissions office the ability to build a more dynamic class. So, in the big picture, our focus on financial aid is in response to an unambiguous and critical need. However, when you think about it less abstractly, an individual scholarship is a life-changing thing for a student. With scholarships, Lisa and I feel like we can have an impact in a very tangible and personal way. We really love the idea that we are able to help someone become who he or she was meant to be. So, while it’s easy to justify supporting financial aid at a macro level, it’s the micro impact that really appeals to us.

Perhaps the most compelling example of the power of financial aid is Father Brooks’ decision to offer scholarships to 20 African-American students in 1968. Everyone knows the story, and nobody would dispute the fact that those scholarships changed the lives of the 20 men who received them or that those men changed Holy Cross. Indeed, the scholarships that Lisa and I are creating are inspired by Father Brooks and are named for him.

We started with the simple question, “If Father Brooks were getting in his car today with a handful of scholarships and the intention to give them to highly-deserving kids who would never be at Holy Cross without them and who have the chance to change the school … where would he go?” After a lot of discussion, and a bold suggestion by Fr. Boroughs, we settled on the idea of supporting kids who don’t have access to traditional financial aid, i.e., kids from undocumented families. The idea resonated immediately. It addresses an obvious need, it embraces a marginalized community and it falls right at the core of Holy Cross’ mission. We are incredibly proud to be associated with this effort and we hope Father Brooks would see it as a confirmation of his vision.

Do you involve family in choosing which causes to support?

LISA: Jim and I are beginning to. Our kids are still a bit young to fully participate in the decision process, but we are doing everything we can to instill in them the idea that giving is an essential part of our life and that giving will be an essential part of their lives. We are also trying to help them understand that they are going to have to choose among many worthy causes by sharing with them how we attempt to set our priorities. We have stressed to our kids that the pleasure you get from the coolest thing you ever buy for yourself will not compare with the pleasure you get from supporting organizations and causes you care about. It’s not even close. We want them to see giving as a joy, which it truly is, not as an obligation. Hopefully when they see us give, they see us doing it with great satisfaction and as an expression of gratitude for all that we have been given.

With so many deserving causes in the world, why Holy Cross?

JIM: It is certainly true that there are many deserving causes. Because of that, you have to make peace with the fact that you can’t do everything. The best advice I ever got regarding philanthropy is: pick what is important to you and make that your focus. Lisa and I have chosen to focus on two areas — Catholic education and children’s health. Perhaps that is because our philanthropy began to take its shape at a time when our own children were growing up. We have really put our focus there and never looked back. With respect to why we have prioritized Holy Cross, it is, obviously, a reflection of the experience I had as a student. However, at a higher level, I really do believe that Holy Cross produces graduates that make the world a better place. I recognize that is a somewhat immodest statement, but I believe it. So, if we can make it possible for a kid to go to Holy Cross who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to go, then we did a good thing, not only for the kid but also for the world around that kid.

What meaning and satisfaction do you derive from your philanthropy?

LISA: We view philanthropy as one of the great privileges of our life. Too often, people view philanthropy as a selfless act: giving something when you are not obligated to give. We don’t see it that way at all. Jim and I derive a great deal of satisfaction from giving; it’s really an honor to be asked to give and to be able to give. It’s very much a two-way street in our minds. What a wonderful thing to be able to help…it’s humbling and joyful.
How did Holy Cross shape you?

JIM: I think Holy Cross probably shaped me more than I knew at the time. My education certainly taught me how to think: analytically, critically and morally, and it is fair to say that my Jesuit education has always been a north star, of sorts. Interestingly, I would argue that Holy Cross isn’t done shaping me. I am certain that my service on the board has created a greater closeness to the school and given me a much deeper appreciation of Holy Cross’ mission and, frankly, why it is a really important place. In fact, I probably try harder to live up to Jesuit ideals today than when I graduated. I guess the point is that my Holy Cross education is still growing in me and its importance to my life has become much clearer over time. If you embrace what the school is all about, your education is never really done.

The “Brooks Fellow” Scholarship Fund is the third scholarship fund that Jim and Lisa have set up at the College. The first was a scholarship endowed by Jim and his father, Jim ’52, in honor of his mother, Joan. The second was the Jim and Lisa Mooney Scholarships, established to meet the needs of middle income families whose children have been educated in the Catholic schools and who do not qualify for aid as calculated by federal formulas, but who could not afford a Holy Cross education without assistance.

Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Unitarianism, Agnosticism, Christianity — these were just a few of the traditions and identities present among the large gathering of College of the Holy Cross community members that filled Mary Chapel on Jan. 24, the first official day of the Spring 2017 semester.

The sixth annual multifaith community prayer service welcomed students, faculty, staff, and faith leaders from the local community to join together in celebration of all faiths and the universal call to serve the common good.

“We gather today in friendship, women and men of different beliefs and traditions to be sure, but members of one human family,” Marybeth Kearns-Barrett ’84, director of the chaplains’ office, began the service led by Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president of the College.

Attendees were surrounded by hymns and readings in Arabic, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Balinese and English offered by students and local faith leaders, a reminder of the diversity of our community and the College’s mission of solidarity.

The message of the multifaith service was reinforced by Amit Taneja, the associate dean for diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, who offered a reflection on the major takeaways of his own spiritual journey.

Recognizing the challenges faced in our own communities and around the world, Taneja acknowledged that now, more than ever, our faiths are being put to the test and reminded the community of each individual’s role in creating a just world.

He left students, faculty, and staff with a simple imploration as they launch into the spring semester: “Collectively, as people of faith and people of conscience, we are being called to do God’s work and I hope that you will spend some time over the coming months to speak to God, and figure out what you are being called to do.”