Early gift becomes family tradition, provides strong start to libraries campaign
Laura Lewis has witnessed hundreds of first serves, tipoffs, and kickoffs — often followed by a KU victory — as a former member of the Kansas Jayhawks athletics department staff. She and her husband, Danny, a former Kansas football player, understand the importance of a strong start and its impact on the rest of the game. It's part of the reason the duo have committed to an annual lead-off gift to KU Libraries on One Day. One KU. for the past four years.
Last year’s gift was the first of 101 total gifts received by KU Libraries and part of the $34,560 total. That was KU Libraries’ highest tally in the five-year history of the university’s annual day of giving and marked a 25 percent increase over 2021.
“It's definitely become a tradition for us,” Laura said. “I particularly love the idea of One Day. One KU. because of the crowdfunding component — I think it's the future of giving and is so accessible to everybody. Anyone can go and
make a gift — $25, $5, whatever it is. We love doing it early in the year as well and it gets funding off to a great start.”
Laura grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, with libraries as a central part of her life, spending summers in various children’s book sections while her mother completed continuing education credits as a kindergarten teacher. Laura's early history led to involvement with community library efforts in Eudora where she’s helped a building campaign reach more than half a million dollars, with aims to increase access and activities for patrons of all ages, including her own children, Carter and Hadley.
Lewis came to Kansas for a position in athletics media relations — a public relations role with emphasis on serving as a historian and source of information for KU’s athletics department. That literally put her courtside for many of the Jayhawks’ great athletic moments during the early 2000s as she traveled with KU volleyball, softball, and men’s basketball. It’s also how Laura met Danny, who served KU for 14 years at the KU Alumni Association.
The Lewises first contributed to KU Libraries with their time and talent, aligning connections to alumni and athletics with their affinity for libraries to champion the campaign for the digitization of the Phog Allen Papers. The experience led Laura, now chief communications officer for CREW Network, to a position on the KU Libraries Board of Advocates where she has served as chair and observed the positive campus impact.
“KU Libraries are so important, they touch nearly every student on campus,” Lewis said. “The library is a gathering space; it's a place where students come to collaborate. They still get those traditional resources that are so important, and it's a safe space. Programs have grown and adapted to meet students' needs. It's not just a building of books anymore. Putting students first is so important to libraries, and it shows.”
Laura and Danny have already circled Feb. 16, 2023 — the date of the next One Day. One KU. — and plan to continue their family tradition of contributing early in hopes of an even bigger day and results that go beyond last year’s total.
“It's definitely rewarding to see those final numbers,” Laura said, “but I would say what's even more rewarding is later in the year when the students who are recipients of a lot of those funds come to our board meetings … there are such tangible results in everything that you're supporting with your gift.”
Consider joining the Lewis family in support of KU Libraries with a gift on One Day. One KU. by visiting the KU Libraries landing page on Feb. 16.
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This story first appeared in KU Libraries' Winter 2023 edition of Bibliophile. Bibliophile is published in print and online semi-annually by the University of Kansas Libraries for alumni, friends, and benefactors. Printing is paid for with private contributions. PDFs of current and past KU Libraries publications like Bibliophile can be found in our pressroom.