Join the Staff Giving Program
Phillip Anthony is an Admissions Coordinator in Student Business Services, located at the Nathan campus. He has walked in the footsteps of disadvantage as a student, and this experience compels him to give back.
"It does not matter how much money you have now, poverty never leaves a person, because you never forget. But we can all make a difference to move it from being a reality to a memory for our students."
"There was once a time in my life that my family could not afford to buy me an apple (the fruit, not the phone). I have a somewhat unique perspective on growing up in poverty, including being a poor student at Griffith back in the 1980’s.
Back then, there was no Staff Giving, but there was Austudy and choices that made it just possible to get by. Some of the choices I made then, including buying a $9 pizza with 1 and 2 cent pieces (that was really embarrassing*), and regularly buying just $2 worth of petrol (I was really lucky to have a hand me down bomb to drive to uni each day)."
Some days, the only way I could start my car was by taking the air filter off the engine and pouring petrol down the carburettor (dangerous and stupid, but when you are poor, you can’t afford car servicing).
While those days are now long behind me, I know that these types of choices continue today with our students from less fortunate circumstances and backgrounds. Choices like whether to eat or pay for medication. Or buy study resources and walk to uni, or forgo the resources and take the bus. I am sure there are students right now on the edge deciding whether they can possibly afford to continue to study next Trimester, or if they should chuck it in now to find a job or move on to welfare.
Our students do not want charity, they just want a chance. And their best chance in life is to get a great education from Griffith. We can all help make that possible by signing up to Staff Giving, and contributing even a small amount like $3.85 per fortnight (this adds up to $100 a year from you, matched by another $100 from Griffith). You can make a BIG difference to another human being, and you will feel better for it.
* Truth: I sent my mother in to pay for the pizza and I hid in the car, really embarrassed for being a coward.