Every year, the Amarillo Area Foundation hosts the Panhandle Gives event that begins on the Monday before Thanksgiving and ends on Giving Tuesday, the global day of giving. This year the dates are November 25 through December 3.
During this event, local non-profit organizations are eligible to participate and all donations made to the organization through the Panhandle Gives campaign are amplified.
This year, Altrusa International of Pampa has joined the event and are excited about the campaign.
The members of Altrusa can be seen all over town, logging in numerous volunteer hours at different locations, whether it be at the library or organizing events at the elementary schools, and making generous donations to other organizations and departments in need.
The many service projects that Altrusa International of Pampa have done include:
The Children’s Shopping Tour, Snack Pack 4 Kids, Acts of Kindness, Soup With Mrs. Claus, Make a Difference Day, Pregnancy Support Center, Southside Senior Citizens Center, Lunch With Dignitaries, Pre-School Literacy, Lovett Memorial Library, Dual Credit, Valerie’s Closet, Geraldine Rampy Adult Vocational Award, Billie Dixon Memorial Scholarship, Tralee Crisis Center, Days for Girls, PAWS, Good Sam’s, 12 Good Deeds, Meals on Wheels, Pampa Senior Citizens Center, Wreaths Across America, Elementary Literacy, Books Are the Beginning, and Butterfly Park.
This list alone tells just how much of an impact Altrusa has made on this community, and through the Panhandle Gives campaign, these hardworking and selfless members plan to do much more.
“We would definitely be able to help some of the organizations here in Pampa more, like the books that we give out,” said Lynne Moore.
Altrusa International of Pampa is heavily involved with promoting literacy and provides books to local schools and the library, and since their new partnership with Books Are the Beginning, their outreach will be able to go beyond just school-aged children.
“We have several literacy projects going on this year, two within the school district. One is called Books Are the Beginning, which is an organization that we’ve partnered with to get books in every students’ hands in 2nd and 3rd grade. And then we’re working with the Lovett Memorial Library.”
“We’ve applied for a grant with our International Foundation for the Lovett Library for Spanish books and we’re trying to find someone to do a Spanish story time,” Beth Bagwell said.
“When doing the research, 19.8% of the Gray County families let us know that Spanish is their main language in the home. So the children might be literate in both, but the adults are not. And this would be a help for the adults to learn English through these books during the story time.”
While many may not know, Altrusa International of Pampa has been around for 71 years and were instrumental in setting up the Tralee Crisis Center and Pampa Senior Citizens Center and continue to play a major role in those beloved organizations.
December is always a busy month for Altrusa as they host one of the biggest and much-anticipated fundraisers of the year: Soup With Mrs. Claus, where attendants can enjoy a warm meal and story time with the icon herself, and of course, free Christmas story books are provided for the kiddos.
Altrusa has also recently adopted Butterfly Park located on Duncan directly south of Fairview Cemetary after talking with City of Pampa officials on how they can join the effort of preserving Pampa’s parks.
“It’s great to be able to work with them. There are six full time city parks employees, so we have started a campaign with many community members to just come out and pick up trash, pull weeds, and stuff like that,” Lynne said.
For more information about how you can donate during the Panhandle Gives campaign starting November 25, visit their website, panhandlegives.org.
On November 15 during the Lighting Up the Bricks event in downtown Pampa, all 14 organizations that are participating in the Panhandle Gives campaign will have booths set up in The Well STEAM and Literacy Center located at 213 N. Cuyler where more information will be provided about each organization over a hot cup of cocoa.
Check future editions of The Pampa News for other organization highlights!
