United We Win Campaign at Halfway Mark, Has Reached 35 Percent of Goal

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas staff and faculty have donated $56,957 in the first two weeks of the U of A United Way campaign – United We Win. The donations will help fund programs for children living in poverty in Northwest Arkansas.

“We are currently at 35 percent of our campaign goal of $160,000 for programs supported by the United Way of Northwest Arkansas,” said Stacy Leeds, campaign co-chair. “Our fundraising drive officially ends on Oct. 27, so we are counting on our campus community – staff, faculty and students – to respond generously in the next 11 days.”

The need is great. An estimated 27,000 children live in poverty in Northwest Arkansas. The United Way funds 13 programs that help stabilize their current situation through legal advocacy, promoting child well-being or addressing youth homelessness. Another 25 programs work to put children and their families on the path out of poverty by helping parents teach their children; supporting pre-school, after-school and summer programs; providing mentors for children; and teaching families to be self-sufficient.

“As our chancellor has said, every contribution is significant,” said Chris McCoy, campaign co-chair. “And the United We Win committee has made it easier than ever to participate this year. Faculty and staff can go to https://unitedway.uark.edu and either donate online or indicate another way of contributing. Or they can turn in their donor cards to their unit volunteers. As an added incentive, everyone who contributes is eligible to be in our weekly prize drawing, and we have some great prizes this year.”

So far drawing winners have won a Play Station Gold stereo headset and a free UREC membership and Chartwells food basket. A drawing for another UREC membership and a set of walkie talkies will be held this Friday. The final prize is a Dell laptop. Anyone who participates either online or with their donor car is eligible to win.

“Several groups have also held or are planning fundraising events,” said Jacque Linebarger, the campus coordinator for United We Win. “Facilities management had a bake and craft sale that raised $908.50 and Walton College’s bake sale brought in another $237 in cash and Venmo donations.

“And speaking of Venmo,” she said, “next week we will launch our first social media drive to encourage donations using Venmo. We hope this new contribution method will make the campaign much more accessible to U of A students.”

The 24 hour social media drive -- $1United – will start at 7 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24. Everyone on campus can use their Venmo app to contribute $1 (one dollar) to United We Win. The Venmo app is a free download to any mobile device. Use the @UnitedWayNWA tag when making a donation through Venmo.

Everyone can follow the progress of $1United on the UARKUnited Twitter and Facebook accounts and help spread the word by sharing and retweeting the posts and by using #UARKUnited.