On Christmas Day this past year, UVM Dining employee Starr Shover’s apartment became uninhabitable after a fire spread from her bathroom into the rest of the living space. When junior Duncan Starkenburg heard of the incident, he started a GoFundMe to raise money for her.
Since then, the fundraiser has raised nearly $10,000.
The morning Starkenburg found out about Starr’s circumstances started as it did every morning, he said, with Shover asking him how he was and about his break. When Starkenburg asked how her break was in return, he heard what had happened to her apartment.
“She didn’t make a big deal of her situation and I just couldn’t stand for that,” he said. “She’s just such a sweet human being.”
Starkenburg said he started the GoFundMe without even getting the chance to tell Shover. She found out through the spread of the link a co-worker saw on Facebook, he said.
The amount of money raised has been so overwhelming that there is technical trouble transferring it to Shover’s bank account; since the donated funds totaled over $5,000, transferring the money from the GoFundMe to Shover has become more complicated.
“I mean, this is a good problem to have,” Starkenburg said.
Shover said she cried when she heard about the GoFundMe that was made to support her.
“There’s a lot of statistics out there, and you don’t know when you’re gonna be one,” she said. ”All you can do is just kind of smile and do the best you can and just keep making people’s day.”
According to Starkenburg, this is just what Shover has done, constantly greeting people with a smile.
Shover has been working at UVM for 31 years as of Sept. 30, 2024, she said. She began working in a dish room, moved to the salad bar and has been working in food preparation for almost 20 years now.
Kim Martin, senior supervisor for front of house at Harris Millis Dining, said she has had nothing but positive things to say about Shover since she started working at UVM in August 2022.
“She is one of the most amazing coworkers that I’ve had in most of my career, to be honest,” Martin said.
Shover, a lifelong Burlington resident, said she has gotten to know a lot of kids who come through the University.
Justin Dreslinski, director of UVM Dining, said he has known Shover since the first day he started the job about 18 months ago.
“As the director of dining, I have the pleasure of working with over 500 employees across campus,” Dreslinski said. “Starr is one of those exceptional employees that just stands out.”
Shover’s kindness hasn’t gone unrecognized. She was awarded UVM Dining’s Customer Service Award just this past year, Dreslinski said.
Shover said she intends on using the money to move into a small apartment until she can get back into her current apartment.
