But a health scare in Anne Blessing’s first year and the resulting costs were not accounted for in her budget. The fear of leaving Lawrence was set in stark relief.

“It all came about so fast, I didn’t even think about the financial aspect of it,” says Anne.

Luckily, Anne’s medical emergency did not derail her career as a Jayhawk. If it had, she would have likely landed in a room at her parents’ Wichita house and college classrooms closer to home.

And she would have never served on KU Student Senate alongside Bill Blessing, her eventual spouse and partner in their current effort to endow the Honors Emergency Fund.

Emergencies are not something students often do — or can — budget for. That means an unforeseen expense or cost due to a crisis can create a roadblock or, worse, an offramp.

Potential challenges were top of mind during the pandemic, when the honors program identified the need for a program-specific emergency fund.

Created with the expectation that stay-at-home orders, quarantines, and hospital visits would result in need, the fund instead saw requests arise from circumstances unconnected to COVID.

The Blessings want to ensure that no expense sidetracks the career of a promising scholar — a passion that stems from Anne’s interactions with honors students as a member of the program’s alumni advisory board.

“They blow me away,” says Anne. “They want to change the world, and they will. They have that capability.”

To help meet the goal of endowing the fund, the Blessings have committed $150,000 — half of the amount needed to maintain the account — on a matching-challenge basis. That means that the Blessings are calling on other donors.

“I like the idea of a match. I think it can motivate people,” says Anne. “I’m hoping that, for people who have backgrounds like mine where money was tight, this story resonates, and they will step forward and help.”

Bill, a Summerfield Scholar whose three KU degrees in business, accounting, and economics certify his financial bona fides, sees donating to the fund as not just imperative but wise.

“If we keep some of these brilliant kids in school through their emergency, so they can complete their degree and move on,” says Bill, “I think that’s a very high return on the investment.” 

Providing students with a financial safety net for unexpected challenges is one of the University Honors Program’s priorities in the campus fundraising campaign with KU Endowment. Gifts to the Emergency Aid Fund will be matched by the Blessings up to $150,000. For more information, please contact Sheri Hamilton, College Development Team Lead, at KU Endowment (785-832-7454).