By this time we all have seen the video of Kathryn, the Acorn worker, receiving a beautiful gift from two Elon students, Taylor and Lucy. Here’s a little more about them and their experience giving Kathryn her dream vacation.
Name:
Taylor Zisholtz
Lucy Smith-Williams
Where are you from?
T: Doylestown, Pennsylvania
L: Gainesville, Florida
Age?
T: 21
L: 20
Year?
T: Junior
L: 1st year
Major?
T: Psychology
L: Environmental Studies and Art
Fun Fact?
T: I transferred to Elon from Penn State after my freshman year and it was the best decision of my life.
L: I took a Gap year before coming to Elon and traveled the world working with animals and conservation projects.
What encouraged you to do this?
T: It was very much an in the moment decision. The second “It’s been my life dream to take my grandbabies to Disney World” came out of Kathryn mouth, I could see the love and complete adoration that she has for her two grandson’s. From this, I was on a mission. Once I looked over at Lucy and said, “We can do this, we have to do this, we are doing this”, she was on board and there was no stopping us. I realized in that second that this would change this family’s life forever and anything it took to achieve this goal would be worth it.
L: Seeing the pure love and warmth emulate from such a caring and dedicated worker when she told us about her one and only dream. Taylor and I could really tell how special this was for her. This was it for her, it would be a dream come true and a life-changing experience.
What did you have to do to get people to donate and participate?
T: In some ways it took off once the GoFundMe page was up in running but it also took a lot of refreshing on our parts. We posted on every page we could on Facebook, we talked about it to anyone and everyone who would listen, we sent out frequent updates to keep people in the loop and little by little, people near and far were jumping on board.
L: We mainly shared the GoFundMe page on the Elon class pages and any associations we are a part of with the Elon community. Word of mouth and friends/family also played a huge role in getting the participation of a large group of people.
What was your reaction when seeing Elon community participate?
T: It was just so exciting to see a place that I love so much come together for such a good cause. It made me feel that much more at home. It blew me away to see the generosity from students and parents to want to be a part of something that would mean so much to this family they have very little connection to.
L: It was really inspiring to see the whole community come together and experience such selfless acts of kindness from all sorts of people on and off-campus. As a first year here at Elon, I felt the sense of true community coming together for one important cause for the first time I’ve been here and it felt incredibly heartwarming.
What was Kathryn’s Reaction?
T: She was just absolutely blown away at not only the fact that her dream was being fulfilled but at the outpouring of love and support that this University and total strangers have shown her and her family. She could not have been more surprised, more excited, or more appreciated at the news we broke to her.
L: I think Kathryn was blown away, she was in shock for the whole day after the big surprise. The instant I saw her face when she understood what it meant for her and her family, I knew I was experiencing a life-changing moment. It was a very special and surreal time to share with such a deserving member of our Elon community.