A new endowment at the ECTC Foundation will help support Elizabethtown Community and Technical College students while honoring one of the college’s founders.
The ECTC Foundation has announced the creation of the W.D. “Bill” Burks Memorial Student Emergency Fund, which “will provide support for emergency awards to ECTC students when they encounter difficulties, ensuring they can continue their education uninterrupted.”
“We want to remove whatever barriers we can to help them focus on their academic studies while they’re here,” said ECTC Director of Philanthropy Chrissie Angell. “A lot of our students aren’t able to work full-time jobs because they are focusing on classwork, so this will just allow us to have a little bit of flexibility to help students when they have emergencies arise that they just really aren’t anticipating.”
The endowment was established with a $100,000 gift from Burk’s daughter, which will be matched by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System Endowment Match Program.
“He was a part of the original committee that was determined to bring higher education opportunities to Elizabethtown, so his daughter Jo Anne García-Meléndez wanted to do something that would honor her father and decided to start an endowment with the college,” Angell said.
Members of the public looking to support ECTC students may also contribute.
“They can go to ectc.us/give to make a donation, and then they would just want to look for the Support Other Fund at the bottom, and they can make a donation of any amount there, and just let us know that it’s for the W.D. Burks Memorial Fund,” Angell said.
ECTC is set to host express enrollment for the fall semester from August 12 through 15, with classes beginning August 18.
