Ferris State University’s featured Giving Tuesday 2023 efforts focus on supporting students facing food and housing insecurity. 

Ferris State’s Bulldog Basic Needs Alliance’s mission is rooted in its commitment to student academic and personal success to remain on track to earn their degree by providing emergency assistance to students facing housing and food challenges that could hinder their higher education goals. At any given time, 30 to 60 percent of students have experienced a food or housing challenge. 

This year’s Giving Tuesday, taking place after Thanksgiving on Tuesday, Nov. 28, Ferris State is calling on people who would like to support student success to consider a gift to the Bulldog Basic Needs Alliance. 

“Everyone knows the story of the starving college student,” said Maggie Walcott, the Bulldog Basic Needs Alliance chair. “It’s kind of this societally accepted idea that when you go to college, you’re going to couch surf, or you’re going to eat ramen three times a day. The problem with that idea is that when a student doesn’t know where they’re going to sleep that night or when their next meal is going to come, it is more difficult for them to be successful. It is absolutely a theft of their potential.” 

Emergency student assistance depends on multiple factors but can provide need-based meal access to campus dining areas – called “swipes” on campus -- short-term housing assistance and other food or housing help. To be eligible, students must be a current Ferris State student on the Big Rapids campus and demonstrate an unmet financial need that has or could cause food or housing insecurity. 

Beyond fulfilling short-term needs, the Bulldog Basic Needs Alliance focuses on connecting students with the resources for long-term solutions to pursue a sustainable model for student success. 

Supporting the Bulldog Basic Needs Alliance can be monetary or made through donating time to assist with a swipe drive or grant writing. People interested in volunteering to help the cause can reach out to the committee by email at bbna@ferris.edu. To donate to the Bulldog Basic Needs Alliance, visit our Mobile Cause site, or by texting BBNA to 41444. 

Walcott also shared that she is “really proud of the program's work for our students. There is something magical about supporting a student who felt out of options. Without department or grant funding, we have to work hard to move the BBNA forward and we are honored that Ferris would choose us as this year’s featured cause.” 

Anyone interested in donating a meal can contact Dining Services to designate one or more specifically to the Bulldog Basic Needs Alliance. Donated meals are allocated to the swipe fund. Individuals with meal plans can donate unused meal wipes by contacting Dining Services. 

Click Bulldog Basic Needs Alliance to learn more, including seeing frequently asked questions, local food resources and more.

While Ferris State annually highlights one cause, donors offering support can choose to dedicate their funds to any of the more than 2,100 existing funds at the university. 

Giving Tuesday, which dates back to 2012, is a global movement aimed at giving support to people in need. The original concept was a day to encourage people to perform good deeds to help people in need. Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to support local organizations, community organizers, perform acts of kindness, outreach to people in need and more.