Students, faculty, community members, and Vincennes University alumni gathered on Thursday for the sixth annual Blazer’s Give Day.

Blazer’s Give Day is a 24-hour fundraising event that encourages anyone to donate to the Blazer’s Give Fund, an unrestricted fund which allows the university to allocate funds to where they are needed most.

The fundraiser spread beyond just campus and extends to the City of Vincennes, with several local establishments, such as Impressed Coffee and Procopio’s Pizza and Pasta, supporting the university by donating a percentage of their proceeds for the day to the VU Foundation.

On campus, the VU Foundation hosted a baked goods sale at the Jefferson Student Union, alongside musical performances from students in the music program.

VU President Chuck Johnson expressed hope that the event would raise awareness for the fundraiser.

“We’re trying to raise awareness about the opportunities that Vincennes University provides students,” said Johnson. “We’ll do our best to bring high-quality experiences for students.”

According to Kristi Deetz, executive director of the VU Foundation and senior director of institutional advancement, the funds get broken into four areas, or columns as they call them, those being scholarships, student success, university excellence, and student development.

The first of the four columns is dedicated to funding scholarships for students.

“If we can remove those financial barriers for students, they can be successful here and then further on in their careers,” said Deetz.

The second of the four columns is centered around student success, upgrading programs centered around tutoring and keeping social settings open and safe for students. The third of the four columns is university excellence, which is dedicated towards keeping the university functioning and up to date with facilities and equipment.

The final column is student development, which is focused on giving students the opportunities to learn in experiential learning rather than purely classroom focused environments.

In a press release issued Monday, university officials also announced that a $300,000 gift from Chris and Tom Ernst established a new Legacy Fund, launched in honor of VU’s 225th anniversary. The Legacy Fund is an unrestricted endowment meant to further the university’s mission, a press release states.

The VU Community raised just over $60,000 during the 24-hour Blazers Give initiative, the release stated.