U of A United Way Campaign Closes with Surge of Donations

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas United Way received slightly more than $20,000 in donations in the final days of the October Community Strong – Child by Child campaign. The preliminary final total now stands at $137,066, which is 87 percent of the campaign goal.

“This is a tremendous response from the campus community and everyone who worked on the campaign is very grateful,” said Marty Matlock, campaign co-chair. “We purposely set an aspirational goal, one that would be very tough to reach. But the fact is we raised more than $3,500 over last year’s total, and that is an excellent result for the children who receive support from the United Way of Northwest Arkansas.”

Campus participation was also up significantly in this year’s campaign.

“Last year about 20 percent of the campus staff and faculty contributed in some way to the campaign,” said co-chair Kim LaScola Needy. “This year, with more people in both staff and faculty, our participation rate was up to 30 percent. We need to thank everyone who turned in their pledge cards – but we also need to thank all the campus coordinators who worked so hard on this campaign.”

Although the direct campaign ended on Oct. 31 there are still opportunities to make online donations to the United Way of Northwest Arkansas through the rest of this year.

“We will keep our website up until Dec. 31 – http://unitedway.uark.edu,” said Debbie McLoud, campaign co-ordinator. “The ‘Donate’ button will be live and can take campus staff and faculty members to the secure online donation page. Last year the amount raised for the United Way in November and December was significant, and of course it all goes to a very worthy cause. We truly appreciate any additional contributions we receive.”

On Friday, Oct. 30 the final drawing for $100 Walmart gift cards was held. The five campus winners were:

•          Adam Brown, Global Campus, who is donating his gift card to the United Way

•          Kelly Thornton Bostick, University Relations

•          Shari Coleman Moxley, Human Environmental Sciences

•          Justin Johnson,   Athletics

•          Jackson Nester, Arkansas Union

•          Lori Holyfield, Sociology, who is donating her gift card to the Full Circle Campus Pantry