Temple faculty and staff,

When a crisis hits, we join together as a community. Many of you have reached out to ask how you can help your colleagues and co-workers now. Others have asked for help as they cope with current personal financial difficulties.

Today, I am pleased to announce the Temple Employee Relief Fund, a fund for Temple employees that we are creating based on your feedback. This is a new fund dedicated to enabling Temple employees to directly help fellow Temple employees through the COVID-19 pandemic and other qualified disasters.

If you choose to do so, you can donate any amount to the fund either on a one-time or an on-going basis, via payroll deduction or another payment type. The university is making an initial donation of $50,000 to kick off the fund. In addition to this institutional donation, my wife and I are pleased to make the first personal contribution of $5,000 to this fund. We invite those of you who are able to make any level of donation to aid our colleagues in need.

If you find that you need help yourself, you can apply for a grant from this fund for up to $1,000 to cover reasonable and necessary expenses directly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications will be reviewed confidentially, and approved grants will be paid to employees through payroll as a qualified disaster relief payment that is not subject to income or employment taxes.

If you would like to donate to the fund, apply to benefit from the fund, or learn more about the program, visit the Temple Employee Relief Fund program page today.

Your support will help your colleagues weather these difficult times. I am so proud to be a member of the caring community we have at Temple. Thank you for proposing ideas like this one and for continually making Temple stronger.

Sincerely,

Richard M. Englert
President