Shine Your Light campaign to benefit eight local charities kicks off
Published 12:28 pm Thursday, December 17, 2015
- Tyler firefighter Logan Luthrell high-fives campers during Rose City Summer Camp at Boys and Girls Club of East Texas in Tyler Wednesday July 29, 2015. First responders attended the camp Wednesday to teach children about public safety and give tours of police cars and fire trucks. (photo by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)
The annual Shine Your Light Community Campaign, which raises money for local frontline non-profit organizations, gets underway today.
The campaign lasts today through Dec. 31.
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Since its inception in 2008, the Shine Your Light Community Campaign has provided $1,181,117 in financial support to area non-profit organizations.
Last year, donors raised $167,180 during the two-week fundraising campaign, including 11 Tyler philanthropists who gave $72,500 in matching donations.
Donations have supported 20 local non-profits and their efforts to feed, clothe, house, minister and provide hope for thousands of children and adults in East Texas.
Recipients vary each year. This year’s contributions will support eight nonprofits, including the East Texas Food Bank, The Salvation Army, People Attempting To Help (PATH), Meals On Wheels, Bethesda Health Care Clinic, Good Samaritan Rescue Mission, Rose City Summer Camps and the Child Advocacy Center.
Tyler Paper Publisher Nelson Clyde said the goal of Shine Your Light each year is to provide money and attention to frontline charities that work year-round to help families, children and individuals through hard times.
The campaign emerged amid hard times and national turmoil.
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Clyde said the ripples of a national economic depression strained local charities in 2008. Non-profits were receiving less money and doling out more resources due to increased demand.
He wanted to refresh a long-time company giving plan and approached then-newly-elected Tyler Mayor Barbara Bass about creating a community campaign to highlight organizations on the front lines of charitable work and support them financially. The financial plan was to approach donors to pledge matching portions of the amount given by the public.
Clyde said the idea was that givers would view the matching donations as an incentive to support the campaign. Mrs. Bass encouraged the concept and pledged her personal and financial support to make Shine Your Light a reality.
The campaign’s name derives from Matthew 5:16 and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in which he encouraged listeners to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
The campaign shines a light on non-profits and provides resources to let them shine their light in the community.
Some years there are specific focuses for the campaign, Clyde said.
When joblessness numbers climbed in 2011 the campaign gave to the Christian Men’s and Women’s Job Corps. When the Literacy Council of Tyler’s faced a federal funding deficit in 2013, Shine Your Light helped them make it through the year.
Other years the focus is on non-profits that provide support “pillars,” what the committee views as basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter and healthcare.
This year the four pillars of support are health, food, housing and children.
Your Philanthropy President Dawn Franks, a founding member and advisor for the campaign, said the support pillars are determined based on specific needs or special projects. It could be a new project, such as the East Texas Food Bank’s “backpack program,” which helped supplement hundreds of student meals on the weekends in place of meals they would typically receive at school
Ms. Franks has been involved in charitable fundraising and philanthropic efforts for more than three decades and said the campaign is in tune with specific needs within the community and works to address them.
“The committee and advisors pay attention to what the needs and concerns are each year,” she said. “From one year to the next those issues change.”
Mrs. Bass said there are always needs in the community. The overall economy steadily improved, she said, but the oil and gas industry’s recent struggles are affecting East Texas, Smith County and Tyler families and individuals.
Giving is a way to spread personal blessings, she said. Knowing a donation blessed a person or family struggling to keep a roof over their head or fed a child or provided a gift for them is a blessing in return, she said.
“My philosophy is that we’re all in this together,” she said. “I’ve been blessed and now I am doing my part to help others. If everyone does their part the end result is what is right for the community.”
Mrs. Bass and Ms. Franks said donors’ pledge to match funds magnifies each donation no matter how small. Each dollar counts, Ms. Franks said.
The campaign also accepts and distributes donations at a minimal cost, Mrs. Bass noted.
The East Texas Communities Foundation is the administrator for the campaign. The established non-profit receives and delivers gifts efficiently, allowing 99 percent of donations to go directly to charitable organizations.
Over the next two weeks, the Tyler Morning Telegraph will profile the eight non-profits that will receive donations from the campaign. The stories highlight the services the organizations provide by sharing the experiences of the people they help and staff workers who make a difference in those lives.
The paper will also highlight givers, from founding Shine Your Light donors to first timers, and why they give.
Clyde said there is no specific goal this year other than to provide as much financial support to the eight frontline non-profits as possible and to raise awareness of their efforts to be a light for East Texans.
“The biggest difference organizationally is that we get to highlight these organizations and tell their story,” Clyde said. “We hope we do that in a compelling way each year so it calls to the community’s attention what they are doing to make a difference in people’s lives.”
Twitter: @newsboyAdam
DONATIONS SO FAR
$51,000
Partner Matching Funds
2015 MATCHING DONORS
Herb and Melvina Buie
The Clements Family Foundation
The Tyler Morning Telegraph
Barbara and Billy Bass
Southside Bank
Your Philanthropy in honor of the YP Collaborative
Citizen’s First Bank
Anonymous donor
HOW TO GIVE
To donate to Shine Your Light, visit TylerPaper.com and click on the “Shine Your Light” button or mail a check payable to ETCF – Shine Your Light, 315 N. Broadway Ave. Suite 210, Tyler, Texas 75702.
COMING THIS WEEK
Read profile stories about this year’s Shine Your Light recipients in the Tyler Morning Telegraph through Dec. 24.
Thursday, Dec. 17: Bethesda Health Care Clinic
Friday, Dec. 18: Samaritan Counseling Center of Tyler
Saturday, Dec. 19: People Attempting To Help (PATH)
Sunday, Dec. 20: The Salvation Army
Monday, Dec. 21: East Texas Food Bank
Tuesday, Dec. 22: Meals On Wheels Ministry
Wednesday, Dec. 23: The Mentoring Alliance’s Rose City Summer Camps
Thursday, Dec. 24: The Child Advocacy Center of Smith County
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