Texas A&M And System Charitable Fundraising Surpasses Goal

Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University System employees based locally have surpassed the fundraising goals set for this year’s State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC).

Organizers say the SECC wrapped up the 2012 fundraiser Oct. 31, but donations continued to come in for weeks after the deadline. The end result is 2,021 university and Brazos Valley System employees donating $585,486, exceeding the goal of $522,000.

“Success for projects and campaigns always involves a team effort,” says Mark Schulz, manager of Enterprise Software Initiatives who served as the campaign chair for the System’s Brazos Valley offices.

“We worked hard this year to make some improvements with our communication and campaign progress reporting methods, but in the end the credit goes to the entire team. Tricia Korthanke and Jolene Sears did a great job working with the chairs and communicating with the unit and area coordinators. KAMU produced an excellent series of promotional videos. David Gutierrez, Tricia Speed and John Romero made great improvements to the campaign website, and the area and unit coordinators did a great job of motivating and encouraging employees to participate.”

Andy Mitchell, executive director of Logistic Services who served as the 2012 campaign chair for Texas A&M, agrees with Schulz. “I would like to say thank you to all who helped make the campaign successful and, in turn, provided help and hope to many fellow employees and neighbors across the state. This campaign will have a great impact on our local agencies and our community.

“On behalf of the SECC committee and local agencies I want to thank you again for your time and support and continuing the Aggie ‘Tradition of Giving’.”

Contributing employees had the option of designating their donation to support a host of local organizations as well as state and national charities.

In addition to individual employee donations, some offices and departments held fundraisers. These included events such as a bowling tournament, an online auction, a pumpkin carving contest and numerous bake sales.

As a “thank you” gift, all employees who donated to the SECC are eligible for two tickets for a December men’s or women’s basketball game, courtesy of Aggie Athletics. Tickets will be distributed to participating employees through their unit coordinators.