Fundraising efforts to keep the University’s victim advocate off the unemployment line have been successful enough to secure the $35,344 a year position through the end of the month. And for the handful of students spearheading the task, the support won’t stop there.

The advocacy service — which has seen about 100 battered or sexually abused individuals each year for the past four years–was part of the federally-funded Transformation Project on campus. The program closed late last month after the University lost their funding and couldn’t pick up the tab.

The only advocate for battered women in the county and one of only three services in the area for rape victims, University students had to find a way to keep the Project’s victim advocate Rebecca Theis on campus, senior Bianca Hutchinson said.

“In my heart I knew this just couldn’t be lost,” she said. “It’s not like it’s a luxury. It’s a necessity.”

And after countless hours of tallying donations collected from tables in the Union and checks from community members and other friends of the University, the students got the total they were looking for: $3,300 — the amount that must be raised each month to keep Theis on campus.

While monthly salary contracts like Theis’ aren’t an unusual practice at the University, depending on student fundraising to keep the position is, said Rebecca Ferguson, assistant vice president in the Office of Human Resources. The community educator for the Project has since taken a temporary position at the University with another office and the part-time project coordinator has been able to stay at the Women’s Center performing other duties, she said.

“I think the victim advocate position is extremely unique,” Ferguson said. “It’s just phenomenal as far as I’m concerned. It’s great seeing them dedicated to this and being successful at it.”

For Edward Whipple, vice president of Student Affairs, the student outcry against losing the position tops any other student effort he’s seen in his 11 years at the University. The Office of Student Affairs stepped in last year to partially fund the position through what Whipple calls “salary savings,” but can’t support it now that the federal funding is gone. The Office of Academic Affairs, which oversees the Women’s Center, is also under a budget crunch and couldn’t afford to keep the program going.

“I was really pleased with the support and the student concern with the position,” Whipple said. “I knew they could do it, it didn’t surprise me at all that they did it. I’ve always been impressed with the support around certain issues [at BGSU] and I’ve already been impressed with how students will take action instead of giving up or just not caring.”

For Theis and her supervisor Mary Krueger, director of the Women’s Center, the efforts to save the service have had them tied up in emotional knots, Krueger said.

“I’m just grateful to tears, literally,” Krueger said. “There were a few weeks there in December where we all walked around with tears in our eyes. We’re bowled over.”

And according to junior Chelsea Lambdin, who is also helping to lead the fundraising efforts, there aren’t any plans to stop now. The group hopes to have half of the total salary amount raised by the end of next month.

A date auction has been set for Jan. 21 and bands are being contacted to play in a benefit concert at Howard’s Club H on Feb. 27. Proceeds from the annual “Vagina Monologues” performances on campus next month will also benefit the victim advocate position, Lambdin said.

Raising the rest of the money now shouldn’t be a problem, Hutchinson said.

“I think now that the awareness is there, students will continue to help,” she said. “I really think that by the end of February the money will be there.”

But realizing that students work with a limited budget, the group plans to turn their fundraising efforts to alumni and community members, Lambdin said.

“Now that the students have poured out their hearts and donated what they could during finals week, we’re going to reach out to others with greater income,” Lambdin said.

Student monetary donations are still welcome, Lambdin said, but what the group needs now is student volunteers to help reach out to the community.

Editor’s Note: To donate or to get involved with the fundraising efforts, e-mail Chelsea Lambdin at: [email protected].