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Alumnus gives $12 to Liberty

On April 30, at the last convocation of the spring semester, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. challenged the Class of 2008 to start giving back to Liberty — “even if it is just $1 a month until you are able to give more,” he said.

One student remembered that challenge and recently sent in his $12 check for the year.

Joseph Grubbs Jr., a biology pre-med major who graduated in May, was invited back to Liberty on Tuesday to meet with Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr., who personally thanked him for the gift.

“We really appreciate what you did for Liberty,” he told Grubbs. “If students will just give a little bit to start with, like I was talking about that day — just send a dollar, we can keep up with them, keep track of where they are, and then when they do better, they can give more — that’s the future of the school.”

Grubbs is a technologist trainee working with DNA testing for bone marrow transplants in Burlington, N.C.. He plans to attend medical school next year. He designated his gift to Liberty’s biology department.

He said he knows his gift is small, but it is genuine and was not meant as a joke.

“I wanted, as a small mustard seed of faith if you will, to go ahead and start by giving that first $12 donation for the year, and then realizing that that will continue in the future, obviously, as God continues to bless me and as this university continues to stay true to its original mission.”

As a member of Liberty’s largest-ever graduating class (4,805), Grubbs knows if his fellow graduates followed his example, there would be a large impact — more than $57,000 donated to Liberty.

“If you have first-year alumni giving just $12 a year,” Grubbs said, “if all of them did that, I think the university would be very happy getting those checks.”

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