Greater Longview United Way, Wellness Pointe offer gift cards for new COVID-19 vaccine recipients

Published 5:45 am Wednesday, November 10, 2021

The Greater Longview United Way will use a $35,000 grant to offer grocery gift cards to COVID-19 vaccine recipients at Wellness Pointe clinics.

“Understanding that getting a COVID-19 shot means missed time at work which means lost wages, the Greater Longview United Way is helping buy the groceries,” according to a statement from the United Way.

The local United Way will give a $25 gift card to Brookshires/Super 1 Foods to each person at the time of the first vaccination. A $50 gift card to the same grocery stores will be given after receiving the second vaccination. 

The number of gift cards are limited, and the offer only will be available while supplies last, but the Greater Longview United Way is offering other opportunities to “benefit from this program.”

Each person who receives a vaccination through the Your Shot Texas campaign will be entered into a drawing to win one of 10 $500 gift cards from Brookshires/Super 1 Foods.

The program has no eligibility requirements other than recipients cannot have been previously vaccinated.

Evan Dolive, executive director of the Greater Longview United Way, said only two Wellness Pointe locations in Longview are offering the gift card incentives so far — the Pine Tree-area and South Longview clinics. However, plans are to expand the program to the Kilgore Wellness Pointe clinic.

“We just want people to have an opportunity to get vaccinated, and we know that some people may not be able to take off work or have health care, so this way, the incentive is also kind of helping with the loss of funds potentially that might happen,” Dolive said.

Your Shot Texas is a fund that “provides grant dollars to community-based and grassroots organizations with existing relationships to priority communities, including people of color and under-resourced rural and urban communities,” according to its website. The $2.7 million fund was created by Episcopal Health Foundation, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas and The Meadows Foundation.

Dolive said teaming with Wellness Pointe gave the local United Way a greater chance of being awarded the Your Shot Texas grant.

United Way has a connection to Wellness Point through the health organization’s CEO, Chad Jones, serving as a United Way board member, Dolive said.

“We are grateful for the partnership of Wellness Pointe and their leadership in this as well. We would probably not have this grant if it wasn’t for their partnership and collaboration,” he said.

The grant did not stipulate how the funds needed to be used, but Dolive said most of the funding was used for vaccine incentives.

“We did grocery gift cards ’cause everyone has to eat,” he said. “What’s gonna have the biggest impact on families? That’s food. We know that a large number of people in our community are food insecure. We know now that food prices are going up. This is a way that we can directly impact families’ lives by offering grocery gift cards.

“I think it’s vitally important that people are vaccinated to help reduce the spread of COVID. They’re safe, they’re effective, they’re free. If we want to return to any sense of normalcy pre-pandemic, then I think this is the way we need to go,” Dolive said. 

Visit wellnesspointe.org/schedule-your-vaccination to schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine and take part in the gift card incentive.