{"id":6952,"date":"2018-12-06T07:29:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T12:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=6952"},"modified":"2018-12-06T11:37:15","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T16:37:15","slug":"true-blue-couple-makes-giving-back-to-georgia-southern-a-way-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2018\/12\/06\/true-blue-couple-makes-giving-back-to-georgia-southern-a-way-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"True Blue Couple Makes Giving Back to Georgia Southern a Way of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Giving to Georgia Southern has been a part of alumni Ken Dyar (\u201976) and Rachel Rhodes-Dyar\u2019s (\u201976) life since the earliest days of their marriage. At first, their gifts were small donations they contributed when they had a little extra money to spare or when Ken received a bonus at work. Soon, giving became a habit and the couple found themselves donating to various campus causes and eventually endowing a scholarship. Both Ken and Rachel also serve the University by volunteering on several University and alumni committees. For this couple, giving back to Georgia Southern has become a way of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do greatly enjoy supporting the University through time, talent and dollars,\u201d Ken said. \u201cWe give to the University because we love the University.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple believes every Georgia Southern graduate has an important contribution they can make to the University, and every gift makes an impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven a deluge starts with a single drop,\u201d Rachel explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you would like to give $25 to the University, it would help,\u201d Ken agreed. \u201cEvery gift counts. You got a degree from this University, and it helped put you where you are today. I look at it as giving back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dyars have contributed to various campus organizations and University funds, and endowed the Laura Dyar Journalism Scholarship in honor of Ken\u2019s great-grandmother. They\u2019ve seen how their gifts have been used, and even received a heartfelt thank you from one student whose education might have ended without their generosity.<\/p>\n

The couple attended a function where scholarship donors had the chance to meet scholarship recipients. They were approached by a student whose education was nearly derailed by a family crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had one pull us aside and say, \u2018I can\u2019t tell you how much this means. I was a semester and a half away from graduating and my dad lost his job. I would not have been able to finish my degree if it were not for this scholarship.\u2019 Something that you think is modest can make a world of difference to somebody else,\u201d Rachel explained.<\/p>\n

Ken and Rachel believe the University is a good steward of their gifts, and point out that there are many different opportunities to give and make an impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe University relies on donors for scholarships,\u201d Ken said. \u201cYou can\u2019t attract the best and brightest students without scholarships, and you can\u2019t run those top programs without those students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple also encourages alumni not to overlook opportunities to serve the University on a committee or through an alumni organization. Not only are alumni giving back to the University by donating their time and talent, but they are also connecting with others who are True Blue and share a love of Georgia Southern.<\/p>\n

Rachel has a favorite story about an alumnus who graduated from Georgia Southern decades ago, but never participated in alumni events until recently. Rachel said the events opened up a whole new world of social activities for the man who was surprised by how much fun he had meeting other Georgia Southern graduates, and now never misses an opportunity to be a part of alumni events. His story is one reason Rachel thinks every graduate should stay open to the many opportunities to give and serve that the University offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet Georgia Southern impact your life one more time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Betsy Nolen<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Giving to Georgia Southern has been a part of alumni Ken Dyar (\u201976) and Rachel Rhodes-Dyar\u2019s (\u201976) life since the earliest days of their marriage. At first, their gifts were small donations they contributed when they had a little extra money to spare or when Ken received a bonus at work. Soon, giving became a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":6953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-6952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundation","tag-fall-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}