TYLER, Texas — East Texas non-profit organizations surprised a record breaking number in donations. The final tally came out to 2.8 million dollars collected in donations on the 7th annual East Texas Giving Day.
“We saw some great results supporting local nonprofits,” Kyle Penney, president and CEO of East Texas Communities Foundation said. “We raised more money for charities than we ever had in the history of the program.”
In addition to the donation, 40 new organizations joined the East Texas Giving Program, increasing community awareness and support.
“It's those concentric circles of people telling their friends about giving that really helps,” Penney said. It contributes to an increase in gifts and increase in the number of charities being supported.”
It’s not just about the money that counts, but the time being served from others in the East Texas community.
“That's a great feature of Giving Day is to allow people at least an opportunity to express that and then follow up and build a relationship with folks and find out how they want to serve,” Penney said.
This year SPCA has a total of five volunteers that participated in East Texas Giving Day.
Their goal was to raise $15,000, it surpassed that goal and raised a total of $23,688 in donations.
“Your dollars are being kept local because they are doing to local rescues that wouldn’t be able to operate or function,” Kat Cortelyou, Director of Operations for SPCA of East Texas said. "It helps us to be able to pay the people that come and help and save all the animals that we save.”
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