Volunteers, donors ring in contributions

Volunteers made calls over the course of eight nights to raise more than $77,500.

"This has been all about the power of numbers," GCCC Endowment Association Executive Director, Melinda Harrington, said, echoing the theme of the campaign. "Even though we're officially a little short of the goal as of last night, we're still continuing to receive direct mail donations daily, and there were many friends we weren't able to connect with who will still be sending in their contributions, so I'm confident that we'll meet the full goal real soon."

The college Endowment Association's annual phonathon took place Oct. 3-6 and 10-13 in the Endowment room of the Beth Tedrow Student Service Center.

Various student organizations assisted college employees in making calls to community members, alumni and current donors, requesting donations to various scholarship funds which go toward assisting students with academic and technical degrees.

On the first night, the GCCC cheerleading squad along with faculty and staff raised $5,200.

The following day, the GCCC Nursing and Allied Health Dept. handled calls and raised $5,165.

On Oct. 5, the GCCC Meats Team and Student Government Association (SGA) raised $3,835. On the following day, personnel from the GCCC fine arts programs raised $4,495.

GCCC Rodeo team and Phi Theta Kappa academic honor society chapter raised $11,370.

On Oct. 11 the Cosmetology program faculty and students raised $2,380.

On Oct. 12 the League of United Latin American Citizens, Hispanic American Leadership Organization (HALO) and KANCO finished the night with $7,920. The total also included $2,635 raised by callers representing the GCCC Dept. of Public Safety.

Representatives of the Endowment Association Board of Directors made calls with the assistance of the GCCC Ambassador Scholars to reach the $77,532 total with their $6,620 raised.

"Each and every person who volunteered or contributed to this campaign made it a success,and they truly inspired GCCC students with their generosity," Harrington said. "Every single pledge, every call attempted, every student volunteer, every donation from friends and alumni and every endowment board member donating or volunteering made a difference for GCCC students and for that we are truly thankful."

The phonathon had many sponsors and one of the major sponsers was Verizon Wireless who donated all the phones and air time for the event. Other sponsors included the BroncBuster Bookstore, Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce, Culligan of Southwest Kansas, Troy and Jessica Dirks, and Garden Bowl are among many who sponsored the event.

The phonathon is one of two major fund-raising events held each year by the association. The scholarship auction is the other event that takes place each spring.

Last year, the association raised $447,000 in academic and technical scholarships that are awarded to 1,207 GCCC students and also contributed $44,196 in grant funds to support academic programs.