Bishop Healy Emergency Fund

Assuring Student Access to Resources

     “I understand the stigma of having financial challenges.  I remember not opening up about my own struggles when I was in school.”  Office of Multicultural Education (OME) program coordinator Mariel Aleman shares her own discomfort about people inquiring into her financial status, an experience she brings with her as she welcomes students applying for possible assistance through the Bishop Healy Emergency Fund.  Mariel, who administers the fund serves as liaison to the Bishop Healy Committee (BHC) – the Holy Cross alumni group that contributes to the fund. 

     When students come to her, Mariel notes, “they are usual very nervous thinking that they’ll be interrogated about very personal things.” “It can really be very uncomfortable,” Mariel adds and she observes how students normally dance around the topic.  In time, Mariel has learned to make students feel at ease by engaging them in friendly conversations that she hopes do not appear like formal interviews.  Somehow, Mariel gets to derive requisite information from these informal conversations to qualify the needs of students. 

Mariel Aleman administers the Bishop Healy 
Emergency Fund for Holy Cross ALANA 

students.

     The Bishop Healy Emergency Fund was created to cater to the needs of current ALANA (African Americans, Latin Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans /Pacific Islanders) students.  Serving as a last resort safety net of resources for emergency use, the fund represents Holy Cross and the alumni’s commitment to enhance ALANA students’ experience in college.  Alum Sonia Barbosa ('95) who chairs the Bishop Healy Committee (BHC) that approves the release of the emergency fund, notes how her work involves not only delivering financial assistance to students but as well, "making sure that they are meeting their academic goals and slightly lifting the weight of their academic situations off their shoulder."  Having worked with the BHC since her first year at Holy Cross, Sonia sees her involvement with the fund as a way of sharing the "legacy of those before me who saw this need" to support ALANA students. She finds inspiration in seeing the "enthusiasm of the newer graduates and those who have received assistance from BHC in giving back to their classmates."   
     Also, a lot of funding requests in the past, according to Mariel had been approved for book purchases, payments of medical bills, visa fees for those studying abroad, transport tickets for emergency family visits, GRE tests, graduate school application fees and even for winter coats and gears.  

     From a record of 25 student-beneficiaries in SY 2011-2012, fund beneficiaries had increased to some 120 students in SY 2018-2019.  For Fall 2019 alone, Mariel has recorded some 34 students who have already availed of the fund.  Mariel informs however, that the fund itself couldn’t not possibly cover all the needs of students.  Mariel invites students to come and pay her a visit nevertheless so she can connect them to other resources on campus.  There are instances, Mariel notes that some alums help out from their own personal pockets.  “I act as a bridge and help to connect students to other committees and offices that can assist them,” Mariel adds.

     Mariel acknowledges how the fund truly serves it purpose and invites alumni groups to continue contributing to the fund.  “Every small donation helps,” Mariel affirms as she calls on more alumni to continue beefing up the Bishop Healy Emergency Fund.      

     For more information about the Bishop Healy Emergency Fund, concerned parties may call Mariel Aleman at the Office of Multicultural Education at Hogan 109 or access information through  http://www.holycross.edu/bishop-healy-committee