With the coronavirus pandemic creating even more community need, Arlington residents once again showed strong support for the city’s many hard-working nonprofits through donations made as part of last month’s North Texas Giving Day.
In all, a record-breaking $58.8 million was raised through 106,356 donations for non-profits across North Texas. Precisely 8,580 donations totaling $2,020,815 were directed to Arlington nonprofits, exceeding last year’s record-setting 7,299 gifts totaling nearly $1.8 million.
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During this year’s fundraising event, the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation sponsored a full day of live-streamed concerts broadcast from the Levitt Pavilion and also awarded $60,000 in grants to Arlington-based non-profits of all sizes.
North Texas Giving Day is an annual 18-hour online giving event, coordinated by the Communities Foundation of Texas that encourages residents to make a contribution to the non-profit organization of their choice. All contributions made between 6 a.m. and midnight on this day are matched in part by the Communities Foundation. Since 2014, the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation has sponsored free community concerts and awarded grants to recognize and highlight Arlington-based non-profit organizations and to help North Texas Giving Day contributors’ dollars go even further.
“Along with our first responders and healthcare workers, local charities are serving the community ensuring vital resources and other crucial community services are available to help those most in need during the COVID-19 pandemic and those groups which our community has depending on for comfort, culture and care,” Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams says.
Grace Preparatory Academy President Chris Parker says the generous donations from the community and the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation help the school provide additional enrichment activities for students, such as field trips, after-school music lessons and athletics.
“North Texas Giving Day has been one of the big events we do that brings our Grace Prep community together,” Parker says. “We are a small school, but it gives us a chance to show off our students and families and tell the city about our mission. We are so thankful that the city and the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation has embraced that. We love their support and generosity.”
New Day Arlington is another one of the many non-profits that value the fundraising power of North Texas Giving Day. The community’s donations during this annual event help New Day continue its mission of providing meals and snacks to Arlington Independent School District students.
“New Day provides weekend food for hungry children. Last year, New Day delivered over 1,000 bags of food to Arlington students each week. We are preparing to serve many more students in the coming school year,” the nonprofit said in a video shared on the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation’s Facebook page. “Volunteers buy, organize, pack and deliver the weekend bags to counselors in over 40 Arlington schools.”
Throughout the day, residents who dropped off donations at Levitt Pavilion Arlington enjoyed free concerts from Larry Gee, Hannah Kirby and Brad Thompson, Bri Bagwell, Ron Bultongez and Radney Foster. These shows were live-streamed through the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation and the Levitt Pavilion Arlington’s Facebook pages.
