Breckenridge Texan

The new United Fund of Breckenridge fundraising campaign is underway, and the organization that helps other organizations has already collected more than 20 percent of its goal.

The Board of Directors for the United Fund set the 2019-2020 campaign goal at $18,000, and after the initial mailing requesting donations, they have collected $4,194.28, United Fund President Sherry Strickland said. That’s 23 percent of the goal.

After failing to meet the goal for 2017-18, the organization reduced its goal for last year and ended up exceeding the 2018-19 goal of $17,000 by $1,799. “That was really a great day for the campaign,” Strickland said.

For the 2019-2020 campaign, the United Fund will assist the following 17 local organizations:

• All His Children of Stephens County
• Boy Scouts Troop 63
• Breckenridge Fine Arts Center
• Breckenridge Library
• Breckenridge Little League
• Breckenridge Youth Soccer
• Cub Scouts Pack 81
• Dr. Goodall’s House
• Friends of Historic Breckenridge
• Girl Scouts Troop 8356
• Meals on Wheels
• The Open Door
• The SHAC (School Health Advisory Committee)
• Stephens County Agriculture & Community Center
• Stephens County Child/Foster Welfare Board
• Stephens County Humane Society
• Swenson Memorial Museum

The Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of Breckenridge are featured on one of six donation cards sent out by the United Fund this year. (Image courtesy of the United Fund of Breckenridge)

This year, the organization has a website, www.unitedfundbreckenridge.org, where donors can use a credit or debit card to send money to the organization. Additionally, several United Fund members can process credit card donations in person with their cell phones. Donations also can be made by mailing a check to mail United Fund of Breckenridge, Inc., P.O. Box 170, Breckenridge, TX 76424.

Strickland credited board member Bo Asher with creating the website, as well as for designing the donation cards again this year.

“We knew where we wanted to go; we knew we wanted to go with something more progressive,” she said about the website. “We wanted to be able to offer the convenience of credit cards and debit cards. It just was a matter of having someone who has a talent to put it all together. And (Bo has) just been a key person in doing that for us.”

Last year, Asher updated the request cards with photos of some of the buildings for the organizations that benefit from the United Fund. This year, there are six different cards, each one featuring some of the people (and animals) who are involved with the various organizations.

Strickland emphasized that all of the organizations that receive money from the United Fund are local groups. All of the money collected stays in Breckenridge to help people here.

Story by Tony Pilkington and Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

Cutline, top photo: Some of the United Fund of Breckenridge’s board of directors gathered in Foundation Park recently to officially launch the 2019-2020 fundraising campaign. Pictured, from left, are Wayne Justus, Les Strickland, Lynda Justus, Sherry Strickland, Bo Asher, Sandy Broyles, Jean Hayworth and Whitney Fulgham. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)