Murphy USA employees respond positively to ‘Dog Days of Summer’ fundraiser
Murphy USA held their first-ever ‘Dog Days of Summer’ fundraiser for the Union County Animal Protection Society, dedicating the last three days of their work week to raising money for food for UCAPS dogs.
Employees responded positively to the fundraiser, with many saying they hope to see it again in future years. The fundraising drive ended Friday with a special ‘Bring Your Dog to Work Day’ for Murphy USA staff.
Trey Mitchell was at Friday’s event with his two daughters, Addison and Harper. Addison and Harper played with puppies up for adoption from UCAPS during the event.
Having adopted dogs from UCAPS himself, he said he loved to see Murphy USA giving back to the community.
“Love it. I think it’s so great that Murphy is so involved with the community,” Mitchell said. “[It’s] a great opportunity to give back with UCAPS.”
The fundraising drive started with a group of Murphy USA employees, the Friends of UCAPS, approaching the company’s senior leadership. Murphy USA already is involved in several charitable causes in the community, including the United Way of Union County and the Relay for Life.
The leadership team agreed that UCAPS’ need is great and decided to hold this week’s fundraising drive. The fundraiser started Wednesday with a goal of raising enough
money for 150 50-pound bags of dog food. By Thursday, they’d almost met that goal.
Typically, Murphy USA employees get off work at noon on Fridays. That worried some of the Friends of UCAPS, who thought their co-workers may prefer to just start their weekend.
“It was a great turnout. People actually went home and got their dogs and came back,” said Terra Walker, another Murphy USA employee.
Walker said she expects to see the ‘Dog Days’ fundraiser again since it was so successful this year.
“I think they will [have it again],” she said. “I think they’ll make it an annual event.”
Angelica Wurth, a Murphy USA employee and UCAPS volunteer, said the ‘Dog Days’ fundraiser was also a way to bring awareness to her co-workers that might not be originally from this area. She estimated that up to 80 percent of Murphy USA employees could be Union County-transplants.
“What’s more important for us is that they’re coming to learn,” she said. “We have such a diverse workforce of people coming to work there from all over. … A lot of them, they didn’t even know there was a shelter and they’ve never been to the shelter.”
The fundraiser was also an opportunity to introduce Murphy USA employees to some of the UCAPS shelter’s pets. Julie McDonald, another Murphy USA employee, said at least three adoptions had taken place because of the fundraiser.
“We made a good bit on donations too,” McDonald said.
UCAPS has been hard at work in recent months, dealing with severe shelter overcrowding, working towards opening their new Adoption Center and establishing their new trap-neuter-release program for El Dorado’s stray cats.
Wurth said awareness campaigns like ‘Dog Days’ help to teach the community about local needs. Now, she’s challenging other companies based in El Dorado and Union County to participate in similar fundraising drives.
“We just challenge other companies to consider something like this and to reach out to us if they’re wanting to do a UCAPS event,” Wurth said.
“I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful,” said Kimberly Smith, another Murphy USA employee. “It helps out the community and it’s been so fun this week.”