United Way sees drop in donations

The United Way of Greater Texarkana concluded its fundraising campaign with a recognition breakfast Friday morning at Williams Memorial Methodist Church.

This year’s campaign brought in $689,256, down significantly from the $736,000 the United Way brought in last year.

The decrease in donations was attributed to a couple of factors.

“One of our top corporations completely got rid of its employee match and another reduced theirs from 60 percent to 20 percent,” said Mark Bledsoe, president/CEO of the United Way. “The Combined Federal Campaign went from $34,000 to a little more than $1,300. That includes donations from all federal agencies. They went to a computerized system, and it changed the entire dynamic of the way things were done.

It made a huge difference.” “The United Ways we’ve been visiting with in Texas and Arkansas have all had similar results because of the way it changed,” Bledsoe said.

This year’s campaign had some positives.

“Three of our top 10 contributors are at three-year highs, so we were super pleased with that,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of good things in the works.”

Bledsoe believes raising $700,000 is within reach.

“That number might go up slightly since there are some smaller campaigns that have not been turned in,” Bledsoe said.

If it doesn’t increase, programs receiving funding from the United Way might see a little less support in the future.

“They might see a slight reduction, but hopefully that won’t happen. We’re going to do everything we can so that doesn’t happen, but we’ll just have to take a good close look at it,” Bledsoe said.

The United Way is still taking donations.

“In Texarkana, everybody just pitches in. It really is a community where people take care of their own. It’s neighbors taking care of neighbors. That’s what the United Way is all about,” Bledsoe said.

The organization recognized its top 10 contributors at the event. Cooper Tire took the top spot, followed by CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System, Graphic Packaging (formerly International Paper), Red River Federal Credit Union, Wadley Regional Medical Center, Offenhauser Inc., National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, LifeNet Inc., Mayo Manufacturing and AEP-Southwestern Electric Power Co.

David Mims was announced as the new president for the United Way Board of Directors, and David and Robin Hickerson will serve as campaign co-chairman and co-chairwoman for the next campaign.