{"id":1978,"date":"2026-03-10T13:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/?post_type=cu_story&p=1978"},"modified":"2026-09-08T10:33:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T14:33:53","slug":"connecting-with-the-community-through-philanthropy-and-volunteerism-a-spotlight-on-linda-cruz","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/story\/connecting-with-the-community-through-philanthropy-and-volunteerism-a-spotlight-on-linda-cruz\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting With the Community Through Philanthropy and Volunteerism: A Spotlight on Linda Cruz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Connecting With the Community Through Philanthropy and Volunteerism: A Spotlight on Linda Cruz\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

By: Mikaela Stevenson<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For Carleton University retiree Linda Cruz, community involvement isn\u2019t just a value \u2014 it\u2019s a way of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first in her family to attend university, Linda arrived at Carleton as an undergraduate pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPsychology had always been an interest,\u201d she says. \u201cI remember being a young teen and begging my mom for a subscription to Psychology Today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a student, Linda immersed herself in campus life, joining the outdoors club and the rowing team and working as a spotlight operator at Sock \u2018n\u2019 Buskin. Carleton also became the place where she met her husband, cementing a lifelong connection to the university. After graduating, she built a career in marketing before returning to Carleton in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Photo by Fangliang Xu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

What began as a casual role evolved into 10 years of event leadership, first as an event and conference coordinator and later as manager of Conference Services. Overseeing countless meetings, conferences and special events, Linda became a friendly, familiar face to students, faculty, staff and external partners planning gatherings on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda\u2019s many event highlights include organizing a two-day youth conference for then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, hosting a Rubik\u2019s Cube competition presided over by Ern? Rubik, inventor of the iconic handheld puzzle, and supporting several events for the Special Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of events, Linda was actively involved across campus with the Health and Safety Committee, Healthy Workplace, United Way and CUPE 2424, the local union representing Carleton’s administrative, technical and library staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVolunteering is just part of my DNA,\u201d she says. \u201cMy mom used to say I had \u2018volunteer\u2019 tattooed on my forehead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda is using some of her newfound time in retirement to grow her volunteer portfolio, Shopping with Neighbours at the Parkdale Food Centre (pictured in the image to the left), making deliveries for Feed The City and helping out at the upcoming Ottawa International Writers Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As her philanthropic efforts expand beyond campus, community is still the first word that comes to mind when Linda thinks of Carleton.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cCommunity is big. It\u2019s the thing I love,\u201d Linda says. \u201cI\u2019ve always been somebody that community is important to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Linda recalls reading a recent online thread by a prospective student who was trying to decide between attending Carleton and the University of Ottawa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe responses were consistent: pick Carleton,\u201d she says. \u201cCarleton is more supportive, they have more systems in place to help students succeed. The supports that are available, the range of offerings is really great. I love things like this new nursing program, that they [Carleton] are looking for things to make the community better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting the student experience is the main way Linda chooses to give back to Carleton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout her years as a staff member, Linda volunteered with the university’s annual Campus Community Campaign and gave regularly through payroll deductions to the Scholars at Risk Fund<\/a> and the Chicken and Boots Bursary<\/a>, which provides financial support for students who have experienced homelessness, as well as made donations to the Student Emergency Fund<\/a> and the library fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Linda\u2019s connection to Carleton has evolved from student to alumna to employee and now retiree, her commitment to community stays the same. Linda is embracing her new role as a member of the general campus community and continues to support funds dedicated to providing financial assistance and making a meaningful and immediate difference in the lives of Carleton students and researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnything to try and make life easier,\u201d she says. \u201cLife is stressful enough as it is. It\u2019s my little bit to support it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Mikaela Stevenson What began as a casual role evolved into 10 years of event leadership, first as an event and conference coordinator and later as manager of Conference Services. Overseeing countless meetings, conferences and special events, Linda became a friendly, familiar face to students, faculty, staff and external partners planning gatherings on campus. Linda\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":1982,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[43],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-1978","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-ccc"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/1978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/1978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1985,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/1978\/revisions\/1985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=1978"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/advancement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=1978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}