A longtime supporter of UCLA, Mary Hruby '65, '68 became a Bruin almost by
chance. Finishing up at Santa Monica College, Mary went to the registrar's
office intending to transfer to California State University, Long Beach.
That's when the clerk asked her the question that changed her life, "With
your grades, why aren't you going to UCLA?"
Mary was taken by surprise. "The thought had never crossed my mind," she
says. Inspired by the idea, Mary entered UCLA as a transfer student and
earned both a bachelor's and master's degree in sociology. She spent some
time in the Ph.D. program before leaving to pursue a career in nonprofit
management and public affairs.
While taking classes in Haines Hall and studying at the University Research
Library, Mary honed her writing and data analysis skills. These served her
well as a founding staff member of Crystal Stairs, Inc., a Los
Angeles-based nonprofit organization focused on child care and development,
started by fellow UCLA alumni, Dr. Karen Hill Scott and Dr. Alice Walker
Duff.
"Going to UCLA was a life-changing experience for me," Mary says. "The
friendships, jobs and opportunities that came my way are all traceable back
to the connections and education I got at UCLA."
Inspired Giving --
Mary has never forgotten that chance encounter in the SMC registrar's
office. "I'm sure the person who steered me to UCLA is long gone," she
says. "So, the only way I can thank that person is by supporting other
people."
Mary's generosity to UCLA has taken many different forms. Starting with a
$15 donation in 1980, she has contributed annually for more than four
decades to a variety of causes including the Blue & Gold Challenge, the
Bruin Guardian Scholars Fund, and the Barbara Yaroslavsky Memorial Fund.
A life member of the Alumni Association, Mary's donations have grown to
include both a charitable gift annuity and a bequest in support of the
Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
"I'm so proud of what the Luskin School has done," she says. "I love the
opportunities for students to actually go out into the field and practice
while they're still students." Mary knows that it's expensive to be a
student these days, as tuition has shot up significantly since the $127 per
semester she paid as an undergraduate.
"Lately, I've been focusing on scholarships," she says. "Scholarships are
the gifts that keep on giving because students can complete their
education, go out in the world and, hopefully, keep on giving."
In light of her personal experience, Mary is particularly passionate about
donating to the UCLA Transfer Student Fund. "I'm really amazed by what the
campus is doing to help transfer students succeed, not just with financial
support, but also with access to other resources at the Transfer Student
Center."
A Family of Donors --
In 2011, Mary contracted a near-fatal infection that landed her in the ICU
at the UCLA Medical Center Westwood. She received critical interventions
just in time. "UCLA saved my life -literally," Mary says.
Although Mary had been donating regularly to UCLA for decades, she began to
seek out more substantial ways to give back in the years after that
experience. Through the UCLA Office of Gift Planning, she learned about the
benefits of a charitable gift annuity. She chose to donate the majority of
the General Electric stock she inherited from her father to support the
Department of Social Welfare in the Luskin School of Public Affairs.
"It's a win-win," Mary says. "The university gets the value of the stock,
and you can declare a charitable donation and receive a nice tax-reduced
annuity. It was just such a wonderful opportunity."
Mary has also chosen to remember UCLA in her will. "I come from a family of
donors," she says. "My dad was a generous regular donor to the University
of Notre Dame, and my mom donated to her college as well." Mary's father
was able to finish his degree during the Depression thanks to a scholarship
he received as editor of the Dome, Notre Dame's annual yearbook. Among his
last bequests, was to endow that position in perpetuity.
"It's so important for me to give back," Mary says. "I always love when
UCLA sends me videos of recent graduates whose smiling faces say, 'I was
able to give up my part-time job because I got a scholarship.' To me that's
the ultimate proof that I did give back."
Mary, a die-hard Bruin fan, has been encouraging her friend's teenage son
to consider attending UCLA. This year, she gifted him with tuition to
attend UCLA's summer program for high school students.
"The idea was to give him a sense of what college life is like," Mary says.
"To me, it's opening an opportunity, just as that person at SMC did for me
by saying, 'With your grades, why aren't you going to UCLA?' The experience
blew him away and he made friendships with students from across the
country. It was everything that I hoped it would be for him."
