Last year, the United Way of Odessa’s fundraising campaign came up short of its goal of $1.4 million.
This year, United Way of Odessa’s goal will remain the same and they’re hopeful of reaching that mark even as the community deals with the effects of COVID.
“I think it goes back to we want to make sure that this kick off is big,” United Way of Odessa Resource Development Director Andrea Martin said. “It sounds like a lot of money, but when you look at the organizations and the number of people that we reach out to, it adds up. It’s a lot of money and a hefty goal, but we know we can reach it.”
Founded in 1951, United Way of Odessa supports local programs that impact the lives of one in every three Odessans.
Currently, United Way of Odessa partners with 20 local partner agencies and 29 programs providing services in health, education and self sufficiency.
The United Way also provides additional funding through venture grants for special projects and programs that benefit the area.
The annual campaign kickoff celebration will take place at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 19 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Building at 128 E. Second St.
“What this is, it’s our introduction to the community and to let them know that we’re kicking off our fundraising campaign,” United Way of Odessa Assistant Director Christina Escobar said.
Each year during the fundraiser, United Way of Odessa staff and volunteers work hard to raise donations.
United Way of Odessa’s goal is to enter places of business, both large and small, for profit or nonprofit and invite employees to give back to their local community.
Through workplace campaigns, thousands of individuals have helped create lasting change in Ector County and enabled the United Way of Odessa to impact lives.
“We will be visiting our many businesses and organizations and speaking to their employees, pitching the United Way message and support for the community in the areas of health and self sufficiency and encouraging them to give back. Any amount helps,” Escobar said.
The campaign runs from Aug. 19 until the end of November.
“The past couple of years, we’ve extended that just to reach that campaign goal,” Escobar said. “This year’s campaign goal is $1.4 million and we hope to meet that goal. In 2020, we were faced with the pandemic and we did not meet our goal. We really want to get out there and spread the message to reach our goal this year.”
Escobar said last year’s total ended up being close to $1.2 million.
“We like to highlight the fact that we’re available to any business organization,” Escobar said. “We encourage them to let us in for 5 to 10 minutes to talk with their employees and request payroll deductions which accounts for 42 percent of our fundraising total. That is a grassroots policy. That’s how we’re able to support the community by employees saying, ‘here’s $5 to $10.’ We’re starting to see a decline. Economic hardships have played a part, but we want to get that number back up and visit work places and spread the word and educate the community that the United Way is a funding force, not a social service program direct.”
This year’s special guest speaker at the United Way of Odessa campaign kickoff is Odessa College President Greg Williams, followed by this year’s campaign chair Dewey Bryant, who is the CEO of Southwest Bank.
“I think the biggest thing is our agencies that make up United Way have done a fantastic job during a very challenging time of COVID,” Bryant said. “The economic conditions that we’ve had in the last 12-18 months with COVID was a slowdown in the economy and the United Way has done a good job of making sure the communities are served. Hopefully, we’ll have a record-setting year for these agencies to move forward into next year.”
This will be the first time that Bryant will be the campaign chairman of the United Way of Odessa fundraiser, but not the first time he’s been involved as a donor.
“I’ve been involved as a donor to the United Way in the past,” Bryant said. “The agency does a remarkable job of providing the need within the community. I hope our community gets involved to make sure we surpass our goal that we have this year.”
Martin compared the campaign kickoff to the start of football season.
“This is the kickoff where we let everyone know about it,” Martin said. “It’s like with the start of football season. It’s like a media day for our United Way of Odessa. We try to share the message and stories to individual organizations to understand why they’re giving and we know where the money goes. I like building that trust and being transparent with what we’re doing.”
Martin says that the United Way of Odessa likes to invite all of their partner agencies and the people that are normally part of the big campaign each year.
“We try to encourage a lot of community members and it’s open to anyone, but we want it to be an exciting event,” Martin said. “We want to provide some motivation for the city to be involved. It’s like a big pep rally. … We have different people volunteering to come in like we have people from the YMCA come in and do a short presentation. We’ve got a little rocket theme going on as far reaching for the moon. That’s our theme this year.”
Escobar says the United Way of Odessa is always welcoming new partner agencies.
“On an annual basis, we open the application period,” Escobar said. “They have to meet prerequisites, annual audits and IRS tax returns and make sure they’ve been in existence for more than two years and demonstrate great stewardship for the community. We open that process and encourage anyone who can meet that process to apply.”
This campaign is also an opportunity for people to get up close and personal and learn additional information about the United Way’s partner agencies.
“We have anywhere from the Boys and Girls Club to Campfire After School programs, Catholic Charities, Christmas in Action, which performs home repairs for elderly and homebound,” Escobar said. “Many of those offer more than one program.”
For additional information, contact Martin at 432-332-0941.
The United Way of Odessa supports programs in 10 counties and 40 Zip codes.
Through the work of 33 funded programs, they ensure that individual lives and entire neighborhoods are being transformed and on the road to reaching their greatest potential.
People can donate online at unitedwayodessa.org/donate-now.
