A Golden Hawk's letter to Laurier

Dear Cec,

I hope you are well and keeping safe in these challenging times.

I signed an update to my will this morning.

I have made a provision for a 20 per cent residual gift to Laurier to create the Douglas C. Earle Bursary, to support students with financial need and satisfactory academic standing in undergraduate studies in the Faculties of Arts or Music.

As you can see in the picture attached, I wore my Golden Hawk colours and my Canada Proud mask for the occasion!

In signing the documents, I reflected back to that evening in September of 1985 when I first met you. I was a student caller with Alumni Affairs (as it was called back then), and you were my supervisor. During my second call that evening, I secured my first gift! I still speak to the donor (and Laurier alumnus) on occasion about how his commitment to Laurier that evening changed my life. Who was the donor? Today, Ted Arnott serves as the Speaker of the Ontario Legislature and MPP for Wellington—Halton Hills.

Cec, you trained me to be a professional fundraiser over my four years at Laurier. Little did either of us know at the time that I would turn that experience into a career, raising, so far, over $1.2 billion for five health charities, two universities, two hospitals and public television (TVO). And it was my experiences at Laurier that helped me drive the petition which created the Krever Commission into Canada's tainted blood; secure the largest gift in Canadian history for mental health; and fund millions in medical research and other projects.

Being the first in my family to go to university, I learned a lot about asking for help, however uncomfortable, feeling out of my depth and the fear of missing out I might have felt. It might be why I was a First Year Councilor, and then elected to serve on the University Senate for four years. I hoped that my experience would pave the way for my younger siblings and cousins ... and it did. All six members in my generation graduated university, including my brother who graduated from Laurier, too.

And as you know, today my son is at Laurier finishing his third year in Music. So Laurier is now a tradition. It is fitting: those campaigns in the late 1980s raised money to construct the building that he learns in today, and recently a student called me to give to the Making Space for Music campaign, which will improve that facility greatly. Yes – I did make a gift towards it!

As you know well, leaving a gift in your will is emotive. It is empowering. It is a statement of your life values, expressed in your estate plans when you don’t need the assets anymore.

So for these reasons, I left this gift in my will to benefit future students at Laurier. And to say thank you to you, Cec.

Sincerely,

Doug Earle (BA ’89 Political Science)

Cec Joyal has a long history of fundraising for Laurier. She started as a student caller in 1984. After graduation, she was hired full-time as the Phone-athon coordinator. After seven years in this role, she started the Annual Giving program and ran it until 1999, when she started the Legacy Giving program, where she works today. She is the true definition of “Laurier for Life” and we are grateful for everything she’s done for our students, alumni and community in her long career of service to the university.