Investing in Cru at Maryland
Investing in Cru at Maryland
We are committed to trusting the Lord to help us take out His gospel message to the 37,000 students who attend the University of Maryland. In order to do this, we are dependent on the financial support of individuals who are also invested in the vision of making disciples at Maryland to change the campus and the world. If the Lord is leading you to invest in this ministry, you can do so easily online by clicking here. Or you could email Ryan Penley for more information about giving. All gifts are tax-deductible.
In addition, all of our staff are fully dependent upon the Lord for His provision financially through the generous gifts of individuals and churches each month. If you would like to give to a particular staff member, you can search for them by name at give.cru.org or email them from our staff page.
If there is something specific you would like to invest in, we have included a catalog of giving options below.
CONFERENCES AND RETREATS
FALL RETREAT 2018
About six weeks into the school year, we invite
students to come away to Fall Retreat. Our aim
is to present the gospel clearly, to refresh them
with sound Biblical teaching, and to provide a
great community-building experience. It is a
great opportunity to help freshmen connect
with the larger movement and one another.
Thus, we try to keep the cost at minimum.
Actual cost per student: $130
Freshman goal is to pay $25
Upperclassmen goal is to pay $99
Goal: 250 students
Giving opportunity:
$105 to get a freshman there
$31 to help an upperclassman
$130 to give a student a free ride
Winter Conference BIG BREAK
December 28-January 1 March 16-23, 2019
Goal: 100 students Goal: 50 students
Giving opportunity: Giving opportunity:
$249 to fully fund one student to go $500 to fully fund one student to go (conf fee & travel)
$125 to give a half-scholarship $250 to give a half-scholarship
GATHERING TOOLS/FIRST SIX WEEKS
FRESHMAN SURVIVAL KITS
In exchange for a 1 minute survey showing their level of spiritual interest, we will give students a “Freshmen Survival Kit”. The kits change each year, but generally they include a laundry bag, a New Testament Bible, a “Knowing God Personally” booklet, a bag of popcorn, and a marylandcru.com pen. This year, Cru staff and students gave away 750 of these kits in 45 minutes at an event called the “Fall Free Fest” before the 1st day of class. We always run out, so next year we’re hoping to give away 1500. This is a great opportunity to give Cru some exposure to new students. And the surveys they fill out help us to find freshman whose hearts the Lord is preparing to hear the gospel or who are interested in getting plugged in to Cru.
Giving opportunity:
$6 for one complete kit (goal is 1500 for 2018)
MaryandCru.Com PENS
Pens are always exchanging hands, so giving away pens with our name and website on them is great exposure.
Giving opportunity:
$955.98 for 3,000 pens
CRU CUPS
Cups are another thing that we seem to hang on to forever. We give away plastic cups to newcomers to Cru and to those who join us at various events we sponsor as a way to say thanks for coming. This year we had color-changing cups with the football schedule and an invitation to participate in our Cru-sponsored flag football tournament. They were a hit!
Giving opportunity:
$718 for 1000 cups
CRU STICKERS
We give these three-inch stickers to students to put on notebooks, water bottles or wherever they see fit and are easy conversation starters about “What’s Cru?” that will prayerfully lead to gospel conversations.
Giving opportunity:
$519 for 3,000 stickers
CRUPONS
We will print and distribute 5,000 of these during the first two months of school. The business card-size “Crupon” is worth holding onto because one side is filled with discounts students can receive at local businesses repeatedly throughout the school year. The other side holds our website and everystudent.com, so they have access to those resources right in their wallet.
Giving opportunity:
$200 for 5,000 Crupons
OUTREACH
PIZZA
We are constantly feeding students. College students love food and free pizza is a draw.
We are hoping to launch 15 Focus Groups this semester for unbelieving students to engage in spiritual conversations leading to the gospel. Pizza will be provided free of charge.
Goal: 40 Focus Groups, each 3 weeks, and roughly 3 pizzas each
Giving opportunity:
$45 per Focus Group
$1800 for all 40 Focus Groups
Community/Outreach Events
These events may include a “Dive-In Movie” at the pool in the fall, Luau, Flag Football Tournaments, Formals/Celebration Evenings, Tailgates and more. Our goal with each of these events is to provide an event that our Cru students would feel comfortable inviting their non-Christian friends to, in an effort to demonstrate Christ’s love through body evangelism.
Goal: 2 Large Socials/semester, Several Small Socials/semester
Giving Opportunity:
$6,000 for all events
$1000/large social (x4/year)
$200/small social (x10/year)
MARYLAND CRU “RESERVE” HOUSE
the Vision – This house is just a five-minute walk from Maryland’s campus. It is a place of refuge for staff and fellowship for gathering students, a place for the gospel to be lived out and exemplified to students and neighbors (most of whom are professors), a place to share life as a team and to model a holistic gospel-driven life with an upcoming generation. This house provides opportunities for staff families to come and remain on campus to help further the gospel, without hesitation due to the expensive cost of living here.
Giving Opportunity:
While the house is built and is being used for it's purpose of hosting (and feeding) a LOT of students, we are still in need of raising $175,000 to pay off a personal loan from generous donor. Email ryan.penley@cru.org for more information.
This list far from exhaustive, but it is a general idea of some of the expenses of our ministry that we are trusting the Lord to provide for so that we can more effectively make disciples to change the campus and the world. If the Lord has led you to join us in this endeavor, you can give online to the Maryland Cru Campus Account by clicking here. You can type in a note to designate how you would like your gift to be used.
Or if you would rather invest financially in an individual staff member’s ministry, below is a list of our current staff members, both those who minister full-time at Maryland and those who have graduated from Maryland and have been sent out. You can give to any of them online at give.cru.org simply by entering their last name in the search field. The last three are not serving with Cru, but are fully supported missionaries with other organizations. We can get you in touch with them for more information about what they are doing and how to give. Thank you!
Please rejoice with us that laborers are being sent out from this campus, and please join us in praying for these missionaries.
Ryan and Jenny Penley - Missional Team Leaders at Maryland
Julia - Staff at Maryland (UM Alum)
Heidi Shaffer Smith - Staff at Maryland (UM Alum)
Brian Hearn - Staff at Maryland (UM Alum)
Jeff Simpson - Staff at Maryland (UM Alum)
Caela - Staff at Maryland (UM Alum)
Chris Leyh - Staff at Maryland (UM Alum)
Fred and Dana Andre - Bridges International Missional Team Leaders at Maryland
Mouna Gharib - Bridges International Staff at Maryland
David and Lindsay Batts (Waldron) - Staff at the University of Delaware (UM Alum)
Meg (Cru #0610199) - International Staff in an undisclosed location (UM Alum)
James & Christina Chu (Teng) - Staff in East Asia (UM Alum)
Grace (Cru #0877184) - International Staff in an undisclosed location (UM Alum)
Chad Trageser - International Campus Staff in Melbourne, Australia (UM Alum)
Hannah Romberger - International Campus Staff in East Asia (UM Alum)
Kelly Lilley - Staff with Cru High School in Florida (UM Alum)
Caleb & Courtney Woo (Glasser) - New Cru staff raising support for the University of Delaware (UM Alum)
Rebecca Dillon - Staff at UNC Charlotte (UM Alum)
Brandon Edwards - Intern at Maryland (UM Alum)
Joe and Abby Gruber - Interns at the University of Delaware (UM Alum)
Allison Chikes - STINT in France (UM Alum)
Maddie Clouser - STINT in Melbourne, Australia (UM Alum)
Emily Kim - STINT in Melbourne, Australia (UM Alum)
Andrew Lohr - STINT in Melbourne, Australia (UM Alum)
Jonathan Loufik - STINT in Melbourne, Australia (UM Alum)
Naomi Arnold - Staff at Cru Headquarters (UM Alum)
Savannah Becknell - Cru Inner City in Washington, DC (UM Alum)
Anna (McGucken) and Nathan Glenn - Liberia Hope in the Harvest (Anna: UM Alum)
Annie - East Asia with EFCA (UM Alum)