Butler YMCA, other nonprofits work toward Giving Tuesday fundraising goals
This year, the Butler YMCA upped its Giving Tuesday fundraising goal to $30,000 total — an increase from last year’s goal, which was about $25,000 between the Butler and the Cranberry Township locations.
Heidi Nicholls Bowser, membership and healthy living director at the YMCA, said the agency was making its way toward the goal by noon on Nov. 28, and had about 90% of the funds raised by 2:30 p.m.
With 5,000 members at the Butler location alone, combined with the $10,000 in matching funds from an anonymous donor, Bowser predicted that the agency would handily reach its fundraising goal.
“We have extremely generous members,” she said. “I really feel like this is a big year for giving. There is a feeling of generalized optimism.”
Giving Tuesday, a movement that promotes “radical generosity,” was created in 2012 to encourage people to do good after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Christina Dreher, development director of the Butler YMCA, said the agency fundraises on Giving Tuesday each year, and the money is used to help children and families access the YMCA’s programs.
“Through these funds, we can do so much,” she said. “Kids can learn to swim or participate in summer camp for highly discounted, even free, fees. They’re learning lifesaving skills and building lifelong friendships.”
Other nonprofits and agencies in Butler County had also promoted Giving Tuesday as an opportunity to help local individuals.
Audray Muscatello Yost, a coordinator of the Butler Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program, said the organization is preparing to send children home with enough food to last them through the 12-day holiday break. The organization provides weekend meals for students in all of Butler Area School District’s elementary schools, and Muscatello said it makes a push for donations as winter approaches to prepare.
“The children are going to be off for 12 days — that's 36 entrees per child — a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner,” Muscatello said Monday. “We give out a jar of normal-sized peanut butter; soup or Chef Boyardee items, those are things we can use a lot of.”
The foundation has an Amazon wish list that includes items it needs for children.
The Victim Outreach Intervention Center (VOICe) collects items leading up to Christmas to provide needs as well as gifts to its clients.
Jessica Wasson, prevention and outreach advocate, said VOICe also has an Amazon wish list, which helps get gifts to the shelter’s clients anonymously. Money or gift cards also helps the agency give clients and their families the feeling of a “normal” Christmas.
“All our clients build lists, and I send the lists out … it's all confidential, they are numbered like, 1 to 500,” Wasson said. “It's a huge array of people. They can adopt someone, but if they just want to get gift cards or cash we give those out too.”
