Faculty and Staff Appeal 2012: Helen Kucharczak

As a secretary in Buffalo State’s Financial Aid Office, Helen Kucharczak sees firsthand the financial challenges students face. It’s not just tuition, of course, but the cost of housing, books, and incidentals that strains their budgets.

 “It’s especially hard for middle-class students,” Kucharczak said. “Grants don’t come to them as easily. Any scholarship they can get really helps.”

She also knows from personal experience what it’s like to juggle a full-time position with college courses and the financial difficulties Buffalo State staff can experience while earning undergraduate and graduate degrees. Five years ago, Kucharczak felt compelled to help by contributing to the Robert J. Elmes Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund, part of the annual Faculty and Staff Appeal that raises money for scholarships and department funds.

The particular scholarship was established in honor of Robert “Bobby” Elmes, a Campus Services employee who died in 1994 at the age of 33. Administered by the Robert J. Elmes Jr. Scholarship Committee of CSEA Local 640, the fund covers two $250 scholarships each semester, one going to a CSEA Local 640 staff member and one to a dependent of a CSEA member who attends Buffalo State.

“My father told me charity begins at home,” Kucharczak said. “This is home eight hours a day.”

Many other faculty and staff members give out of similar convictions. With the roller-coaster changes to government-based financial aid, a scholarship becomes a rock that students can count on. Because her contribution is a modest amount that comes out of her paycheck every two weeks, Kucharczak said giving to the Faculty and Staff Appeal is doable.

“If everyone just contributed a modest amount,” she said, “it would really add up.”

To learn more about how you can participate in the 2012 Faculty and Staff Appeal, contact Louis Noce at (716) 878-3467. To see a list of all the funds, go to www.buffalostate.edu/pdf/fundslist.pdf.