This year will mark United Way of Greater Texarkana's 97th annual Campaign kick-off. The event will be on Friday, from noon to 1 p.m. at the Texarkana Texas Convention Center.
Last year's event was held virtually, and UWGT is still more than $200,000 behind due to lost fundraisers, furloughed employees and employees who were laid off. Last year, more than $50,000 was given out for COVID related expenses, CEO/President Mark Bledsoe said.
"This is a critical fundraising year for us," he said. "We're excited to finally be able to meet in person. We'll be practicing a lot of the social distancing and COVID protocols to a certain degree."
Bledsoe said the fundraising goal for this year is $900,000. Last year, UWGT raised just over $750,000.
"We're still playing catch-up, I mean I'm not going to say that we're not," Bledsoe said. "We're still having to pull from some rainy day funds, and I'd like to get to the point where we're not doing that again. The board decided to go ahead and fund everything at full-strength like we did the previous year, and that's what is required to make it work. But we can't continue to do that because at some point if we can't keep playing catch-up, it could affect the amount of monies that are going out to the programs. And we don't want that to happen."
Texarkana, Texas, Mayor Bob Bruggeman and United Way Campaign Chair Tina Bell will be a part of the kick-off event. Josh Nichols, from Texarkana Resources. will sing the National Anthem.
James Henry Russell, Sr. Vice President and CFO for The Arnold Companies, will be the inspirational speaker.
"Event cancellations, along with companies having to make adjustments this past year, has made reaching our fundraising goals difficult," UWGT Board Chairman Mike Mahone said. "The partnering agencies programs we support are critical, so I'm asking our community to step up where they can. We need everyone's help to get through this."
UWGT events that have been cancelled include but are not limited to: Live United Bowl, Cooper Tire's annual Big Bass Tourney, Battle on the Border Concert, Uncork Your Support and the sixth annual Community Wide Rummage Sale.
Eight 55-inch smart TV's will be raffled off through UWGT's Campaign Raffle at the nonprofit's website. In the raffle, $60 will give a supporter one chance, while $120 will give three chances and $240 will give 10 chances to win a Smart TV.
UWGT's service area officially covers nine counties in Northeast and Southwest Arkansas.
"We need the community's support to help recover the deficit," Bledsoe said. "Any business, corporations or individuals that would like to help out would be greatly appreciated. Simply call our office at 903-794-3105 to schedule a campaign presentation."
(For more information, visit Texakanaunitedway.org)