Posted 6:23 am Tuesday, January 01, 2013
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Fundraiser results called outstanding
BY REBECCA HOEFFNER
With a $196,214 total on New Year's Eve, organizers are calling the Shine Your Light campaign a success.
"We're excited to keep counting the gifts that come in," said
Tyler Morning Telegraph
publisher, Nelson Clyde. "We're waiting to see what comes in during the subsequent days and see how big this number gets. The capacity of this community to give has made this campaign achieve outstanding results."
On the final day of the campaign $4,300 came in, and more is expected to come in through the mail. A more concrete final total is expected to be published on Sunday.
Shine Your Light is an annual end-of-year giving campaign where East Texas residents can donate to selected nonprofits through the East Texas Communities Foundation.
This year, the proceeds will be divided among a record-breaking nine agencies: The East Texas Food Bank, the Bethesda Clinic, The Hospice of East Texas, the Alzheimer's Alliance, People Attempting to Help (PATH), the East Texas Crisis Center, The Salvation Army, the Samaritan Counseling Center and Meals On Wheels.
Last year, Mayor Barbara Bass issued a challenge to the community to raise more than $200,000, far more than the campaign had ever raised.
The community surpassed the goal by more than $25,000, an almost 40 percent increase in giving from 2010. Mayor Bass called the effort "phenomenal."
Since its inception in 2008, Shine Your Light has raised more than $600,000 to meet the most pressing needs in the community.
This year's matching funds totaled $95,000, more than has ever been committed.
The matching fund partners are the Tyler Morning Telegraph, Mayor Barbara and Billy Bass, the Fourth Partner Foundation, ETCF Harold and Rosemary Beaird Fund, the Niblack Charitable Fund, Terry and Dennis Darryl, Citizens 1st Bank, Drs. SJ Vukelja and Lawrence Anderson, Dermatology Associates of Tyler, American State Bank, Herb and Melvina Buie and an anonymous donor.
To donate to Shine Your Light, visit www.tylerpaper.com, or ETCF.org, or mail your check payable to Shine Your Light c/o East Texas Communities Foundation, 315 N. Broadway Ave.,
Suite 210, Tyler, Texas, 75702.
