MSU President's Newspaper Column

January 22, 2022 

Giving Hearts Day gifts will assist nursing students

We are delighted to have been selected to participate in Giving Hearts Day 2022. Giving Hearts Day is a 24-hour online fundraiser for charities in northwestern Minnesota and North Dakota. This event is hosted by the Dakota Medical Foundation (DMF), Impact Foundation, and the Alex Stern Family Foundation. It will take place on Feb. 10, 2022. Donations must be made on this day only and can be given online or in person at the Edson and Margaret Larson Alumni and Leadership Center at Mayville State University. This year, there is also the option of scheduling your online gift in advance.

The Mayville State University Foundation will participate in Giving Hearts Day for the tenth time in 2022. Proceeds from this day will go toward scholarships for Mayville State nursing program students. These scholarship gifts are eligible for the North Dakota Challenge Grant funding, which applies a 50% match for every dollar given.

Your continued support for the RN-to-BSN nursing program has helped it to grow and become one of the largest academic programs at Mayville State. Additionally, the Division of Nursing has recently expanded to include a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program which incorporates nurse educator and nursing leadership & management tracks. Scholarship money raised on Giving Hearts Day 2022 will go to students enrolled in the growing MSN program, as well the RN-to-BSN program.

The nursing programs at Mayville State University are making a difference in our community, state, and beyond, as the need for nurses with advanced knowledge, critical thinking, and leadership skills continues to become greater and greater each day. From the bottoms of our hearts, we thank you for your role in making this vital work possible.

Giving Hearts Day raised $325,000 for local charities in 2008, its first year. Since 2008, generous donors have given more than $112 million, 100% of which goes to participating charities. With many organizations sending postcards, emails, Facebook and Twitter messages, there is strong public awareness for the day. For any single organization, the cost is minimal, but the combined effect of all these messages is powerful in the region. DMF and the Impact Foundation also mount a marketing campaign for the day in major North Dakota cities. 

Those interested in making a Giving Hearts Day contribution to nursing program scholarships at Mayville State may do so online from their own computers at givingheartsday.org. Search for Mayville State University Foundation. Donors who wish to have help with making their online gift may stop by the Edson and Margaret Larson Alumni and Leadership Center at Mayville State between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Feb. 10. Personnel will be on hand to assist donors with online donations and to accept donations of cash or checks. 

If you’d like to pursue the option of scheduling your Giving Hearts Day gift in advance, go to givingheartsday.org and search for Mayville State University Foundation to become a Giving Heart.

For more information about Mayville State’s participation in Giving Hearts Day, go to www.mayvillestate.edu/givinghearts. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to Taylor Jorgensen at 701-788-4636 or taylor.jorgensen.2@mayvillestate.edu.

We at Mayville State University are honored by the opportunity to assist with the critical shortage of nursing professionals in our area and the region by providing quality education for individuals interested in pursuing nursing as a career. It is gratifying to know that our graduates are serving patients in facilities up and down the Red River Valley and in places further away, and we are grateful to our alumni and friends who have generously supported them in their educational endeavors by helping to provide scholarship assistance.  

As we all well know, nurses are heroes whose resilience is being tested throughout the current pandemic. They are working long and hard hours while attending to the needs of their families. Adding the pursuit of further education makes their efforts a complicated balancing act. Having the availability of scholarship assistance goes a long way in helping to reduce the stress that goes along with it. We sincerely appreciate our nurses and the kind and generous people who support them. Thank you for making the world a better place.