Ted Rogers Students’ Society donates $100,000 to COVID-19 TRSM Student Emergency Fund

The heavy toll of COVID-19 has also impacted student finances, but students at the Ted Rogers School of Management are responding once again by lending a helping hand.

The Ted Rogers Students’ Society (TRSS) will be contributing $100,000 to the Ted Rogers School’s COVID-19 student emergency fund. With the help of their donation, more than 2000 individual students will be awarded $450.

This generous donation, made by students for students, will help alleviate some of the financial pressures students have had to face because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This donation is yet another example of the generosity, thoughtfulness and concern our students at the Ted Rogers School take when it comes to impacting and supporting our community,” said Daphne Taras, Dean of the Ted Rogers School. “This act is typical of the conscientious leadership our students demonstrate year round and especially in times of need.”

The decision to give back to the Ted Rogers School community was a collective and unanimous decision made by the leaders of TRSS at their board of directors meeting.

“Part of our job as the board of directors is to gain insight from our students,” said Ejay Vidad, president of TRSS. “And just through social listening we realized that a lot of students are struggling in varying situations and collectively we made the agreement, wholeheartedly, to support students in this facet.”

Brad Wells, vice-president of marketing at TRSS, says that seeing the ways COVID-19 drastically changed the financial situations of many students was why they decided to give back.

“We just really saw the need to give back to the students and re-invest that money they invest into our society every year and just really ensure that we’re helping the students in their time of need, especially considering that some of our events were cancelled.”

TRSS traditionally organizes three major events at the end of the year, along with a collective event that supports student group initiatives. As those events had to be cancelled due to the global pandemic, the student group decided reallocating that money to the student emergency fund would be the best way to still support students.

Being students themselves, Vidad and Wells know firsthand what the pandemic has meant for them and their classmates.

“As students, we have our own struggles to deal with. For many of us we’re looking to support our families, help support ourselves, paying rent, making sure food’s on the table and a lot of us have lost our full-time and part-time jobs because of these circumstances,” said Vidad. “So many people are looking for any support that is available to them and we wanted to extend our arm to be able to help support our students.”

TRSS is not stopping with their donation to the COVID-19 emergency fund. They continue to put on virtual events and are ramping up their social media efforts to try to engage and support students.

They are taking their annual CAMH One Brave Night (external link)  event online this year to help fundraise and raise awareness for mental health resources available to students. The event will consist of a series of guest speaks, academic workshops and online activities.

“Our ultimate goal is to create a community where we can support each other, especially during these unprecedented times,” said Vidad.

Like everyone, Vidad and Wells don’t know how long the pandemic will go on but want to remind students that they are here to help.

“If students need support from TRSS, definitely get in contact with us cause we’re here to help them,” said Wells, “we want them to know that we're a resource they can access especially during these times.”