![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/218\/2023\/05\/Ezra-and-Mimi.jpg\")
Ezra Hall ’19 (right) with his “Mimi,” Jeanne Christie, at The Woodlands at Furman.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cShe said, \u2018No, you can\u2019t call me that,\u2019\u201d Hall remembered. \u201c\u2018If we\u2019re doing this adopt-a-grandparent program, then you fully adopt me as a grandparent. You\u2019ve got to choose Granny or Mimi.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Mimi it was. \u201cWe got very close,\u201d said Hall, who double majored in history and politics and international affairs and was the student director of the Heller Service Corps<\/a>, a member of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and president of Interfraternity Council. \u201cShe has a bounce-back attitude and never gets down. I\u2019d come over and study in her apartment or have lunch with her. She was a really big part of my time at Furman.\u201d<\/p>\n And she still is. Over the years, Christie, who recently turned 90, has gotten to see plenty of her adopted grandson, who stuck around The Woodlands through a senior-year internship and a full-time job after graduation. Beginning in 2019 by helping coordinate activities and programming, Hall has now transitioned into the role of director of philanthropy and engagement.<\/p>\n Hall\u2019s dual role involves managing the Woodlands Legacy Fund, the nonprofit\u2019s philanthropic arm, as well as developing, facilitating and nurturing the Furman relationship.<\/p>\n With the Woodlands executive team, Hall is working with the university to find \u201cuntapped resources that we have that Furman could benefit from or vice-versa,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re right here. How can we be the best neighbor and the best friend for Furman? Let\u2019s figure out a way that we can meld the two that benefits the students, faculty, staff, the community and our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n The two communities already share many strong connections.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my favorite parts of my job is getting to know our new residents. It is always extra special for me to meet individuals with Furman ties, many of whom are alumni and retirees who I knew of from my time at Furman as people devoted and supportive of the university,\u201d said Hall, counting Woodlands residents Don Aiesi, John and Jeanette Cothran, Sarah Herring, and Carl and Lynne Kohrt among the many residents he has been able to get to know with deep ties to the university.<\/p>\n Even residents with no prior Furman connection soon grow attached to the campus, frequenting the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute<\/a>, the James B. Duke Library, the Dining Hall and music performances, said Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cThey moved here and saw that Furman is special and Furman is different,\u201d he said. \u201cThey want to be a part of Furman\u2019s story.\u201d<\/p>\n The connections go both ways, Hall said. Undergraduates often visit to perform music, talk about their research projects and help organize clothing drives and other philanthropic ventures. A partnership between The Woodlands and The Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities<\/a> led to the creation of The Woodlands at Furman Sustainability Fellowship, awarded in Fall 2022 to Victoria Bostrom \u201924<\/a>. The Woodlands also offers internships<\/a> including health care and lifestyle activities and is looking to add more.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of ways that we can grow our friendship with Furman,\u201d said Hall. \u201cI\u2019m excited to see what might happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Students can also benefit from more intangible life lessons, Hall said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great way to show that that when you turn 65, life doesn\u2019t end,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a beauty to growing old. Getting to see our residents so richly living and enjoying it can teach the younger generation that aging isn\u2019t something to be afraid of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ezra Hall \u201919 went from volunteer adopted grandson to director of philanthropy and engagement at The Woodlands at Furman, and now he\u2019s working to strengthen the ties that bind his former school to his current employer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":25360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,98,42,58,32,18,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-heller-service-corps","category-history","category-internships","category-politics-and-international-affairs","category-shi-institute-for-sustainable-communities","category-the-furman-advantage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018The best neighbor\u2019<\/h3>\n
\u2018A beauty to growing old\u2019<\/h3>\n