Latest news with #FalconGivingDay
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Falcon Day kicks off with fanfare
Feb. 13—The 24 hours of Falcon Giving Day kicked off Thursday at University of Texas Permian Basin's Student Activity Center with celebration and the message that no gift was too big or too small for the university. This is the fifth annual Falcon Giving Day and it featured Mariachis, videos and remarks from Vice President for Community Engagement and Partnerships Jacqui Gore and President Sandra Woodley. A $50,000 challenge gift from The Sewell Family of Companies started things going. Gore said you could give $5 or $500 to make an impact on students. Woodley said the video shown points out that UTPB is there to make sure students have the chance to be successful. "We love doing that, and every one of us in this room, and all of those who are not in this room who will hear about this opportunity, will have a chance to contribute to our students," Woodley said. She added that this Falcon Giving Day was important for a lot of reasons. "It highlights a day of unity and impact for our great university. Why does Falcon Day matter? Everything that is given, no matter what the size, makes a difference. Donations, as Jacqui said, supports our scholarships and our programs and our athletics. It is more than just about fundraising. Of course, it's about Falcons taking care of Falcons. Today, I want to acknowledge the donors, the ambassadors, the faculty, the staff, the students, for participating," she added. Sewell's donation goes toward UTPB's Champions Fund for athletics. "I encourage all of you to give, to get involved, to share this information, to celebrate our Falcons in all of their forms, and to challenge our Falcon community to step up and spread the word and make an impact," Woodley said. Daniel Bright, a UTPB graduate and former Outstanding Alumni and representative of The Sewell Family of Companies, gave remarks and a $2,500 donation. "We're excited to give y'all $50,000 and start this off also being an alumni here, I think this building (the Student Activity Center) was finishing in 2010 when I was graduating with my master's. UTPB is near and dear to me. It helped me be successful where I'm at now and get to where I can help provide back with Sandy and Tatum and her whole team. It's very exciting to be here today to help start this off, and hopefully everybody get their checkbooks out and start donating. I'd like to be the first one. I'll do a personal donation of $2,500," Bright said. Tatum Hubbard is Chief of Staff/VP of Marketing and Communications. Gore added that Feb. 13 was UTPB night at Raising Cane's. "Go by and pick it up on your way home, and a percentage of those dollars will come right back to UTPB and help with Falcon Giving Day," Gore added. A phone bank was also set up to make calls to donors. They were going to be there until 5 p.m. Thursday and from about 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Friday. Mariachis played in honor of Woodley's birthday, which in Feb. 14. "Sewell Family of Companies are such great partners in the community, all around and we're always grateful when they step up, particularly to provide this initial grant that really challenges other people to give to the university. We're so grateful for Sewell and all of the other donors who will come through on this Falcon Giving Day for the university," Woodley said. She added that Sewell has always been a partner with UTPB in many different ways. "This is, I think, their first year that they've done the challenge gift, and it's very exciting to have them step up and lead in that way," Woodley said. Gore said these scholarship dollars are vital to getting students in the doors. "Many of our students would not be able to attend college if it weren't for scholarship dollars that were available. Your help will allow these students to attend UT Permian Basin, where maybe they wouldn't be able to otherwise," Gore said. Senior softball players Michaella Baker and Samantha Rodriguez said the scholarship funds are really helpful. Baker plays designated hitter and Rodriguez plays third base. Baker is an education major and Rodriguez is a sociology major. Both are transfer students, Baker from Odessa College and Rodriguez from Midland College. She transferred to another university and is spending her senior year at UTPB. "At the end of the day, coming here and graduating debt free off scholarships, is really helpful," Baker said. Rodriguez noted that you can get transfer scholarships and Falcon Giving Day helps with that. Baker thanked all the donors. Rodriguez thanked the donors and the school for creating a very safe and family like community.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Falcon Giving Day coming up
Feb. 10—University of Texas Permian Basin is set to host its fifth annual Falcon Giving Day running from 1 p.m. Feb. 13 to 1 p.m. Feb. 14. The kickoff is at 1 p.m. Feb. 13 in the Student Activity Center. At the ceremony, UTPB President Sandra Woodley and Daniel Bright from The Sewell Family of Companies will say a few words about the importance of the community being involved with the university. "We will have a live call center that will be going on. We've invited many students, staff and faculty to attend. This morning (Feb. 6), someone brought up the idea of bringing in alumni to partake in the fun," Director of Annual Giving Jorge Payen said. Bright is also a UTPB graduate and advocate for the university. The Sewell Family of Companies has offered a $50,000 challenge towards the Champions Fund and athletics. Contributions to the Champions Fund go toward scholarships, equipment, travel, and other key resources, ensuring UTPB teams have everything they need to compete and succeed, the school's website said. Three-dimensional hearts created in the UTPB MakerSpace at the library will be hidden around campus for students to find. "We do that to get our students involved in Falcon Giving Day, apart from becoming an ambassador, donating and such. ... It gives us a new avenue in which we can talk to them and educate them what it means to be philanthropic, and grow that passion as they work through the university, as well as post graduation," Payen said. "Our alumni base should be one of our strongest donors, and so that's what we're trying to accomplish," he added. New this year is the profit share night at Raising Cane's which will run from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Feb. 13. Anyone who mentions they are with Falcon Day or UTPB, a portion will come back to the university. "They have a lot of profit share nights throughout all of their stores. ... We were fortunate enough to get this one ...," Payen said. Everyone involved is looking forward to Falcon Giving Day. "We're having a blast. We're getting ready for it. We're excited about it. Not only is this a great opportunity for us to be able to reach the community, but also tell our stories and tell our students' stories. We've been talking to a lot of our students. A lot of our students are taking part in Falcon Giving Day like the kickoff video and a lot of our social media posts just telling us about their stories and their memories here at UTPB, which is exactly what we want to tell our community," Payen said. The official Giving Day video is something new that they are testing out to help tell stories in a more genuine way. They had students write a letter to the university as though it was a family member talking about their fondest memories at the school, how they enjoyed attending UTPB and how it changed their lives, Payen said. Vice President for Community Engagement and Partnerships Jacqui Gore said this is another way for UTPB to get the community involved in supporting students and the "great outcomes that we produce each and every year. "Most of our graduates go to work right here in the Permian Basin. We want to encourage the community to support these students. Any contribution is welcome, whether it's $5 or $500; you can make a difference in these students' lives," Gore said. There are different aspects of the university people can donate to. "When you go to the Falcon Giving Day site, you can select which area of the university you would like to support. You could select athletics; you could select scholarship funds — just a general scholarship fund; the food pantry; the emergency fund for students who are going through something unexpected; the president's priorities, or one of the various colleges, like health sciences, engineering, education. We really want to help the community pinpoint how they want to support UT Permian Basin with their contributions," Gore said. People can donate to the university in general. "If someone would really like to earmark their dollars for something in particular, we can help them do that. If someone isn't interested in giving online, they can reach out and we're happy to meet them if they would rather write a check. That would be great also," Gore said. People may call the Advancement Office to set up a donation at 432-552-2800. If someone wants to mail a contribution, they can send it to 4901 E. University Blvd., Odessa, TX 79762 and make it attention the Advancement Office. "Within the next seven to 10 days after we complete Falcon Giving Day, we can announce our grand total, but we'll have a really good idea by end of day on the 14th, where we are," Gore said. She added that it's important that UTPB put a face on the giving campaign. There was a check presentation earlier the week of Feb. 2 of $8,000 to the UTPB Band program from businessman Jim Woodcock. "It's important to us that our donors see the students that they're impacting. Really, that's what we're trying to do with Falcon Giving Day and highlighting our students. It's more than just writing a check, you're helping these particular individuals. I think that was really moving to Mr. Woodcock earlier this week to see the students who played a tune for him there in person; those are the students he's contributing to. He's able to help them in real time. Those dollars will immediately go to purchasing equipment and helping with scholarship dollars. If anybody wants to come onto campus and meet some of these students, we encourage the community to join us for the kickoff at 1 p.m. on Feb. 13. That would be a great way to meet a lot of our students. We have a number of students who will be joining us," Gore said. Community, faculty members, staff and students are all invited to participate in Falcon Giving Day. "The students are excited to get involved, because they see the dollars coming in to help their programs and to help them as individuals. Many of the students are letting Jorge know that they want to help because they're seeing the impact that these donors are making," Gore said. She added that we are very blessed to live in the Permian Basin with its thriving economy. "We have a problem that most places in the country don't have. We have many jobs available and not enough workforce to fill those jobs. These are the individuals who are going to fill the jobs — UTPB students. They're getting their education so that they can go right into the Permian Basin workforce. The more help we can get for these students to continue their education and gain the skills and the knowledge they need, they can go right to work for you here in the community. That's why we're asking the community to support these students. This is their future workforce," Gore said.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Longtime supporter boosts UTPB band
Feb. 4—Although he can't read a note of music, longtime University of Texas Permian Basin supporter Jim Woodcock loves to listen so he donated $8,000 to the Falcons' band program Tuesday. The funds will go toward travel, meals, instruments, uniforms and other band needs. Woodcock noted that about 70 percent of the band members are not music majors. "I was floored when I heard that. I think it's fanatic what they've done with this group of young people who are interested in music," Woodcock said. He added that he found out that the university supplied a lot of the instruments, so he thought that might be a good place to contribute some funds. He's hoping some of his friends will follow suit. The gift also kicks off Falcon Giving Day which starts Feb. 13 and lasts for 24 hours. "I'm always impressed when I see what the school is doing over here, the quality of the people they're bringing in and I think the music department is a good example of it," Woodcock said. He added that the band helps students become well rounded. Jorge Payen, director of annual giving and interim director of alumni relations, said UTPB is grateful to its donors. "We have wonderful, wonderful donors that are willing to ... give us these opportunities to generate more money for the university," Payen said. There is a kickoff event Feb. 13 where they will have a telethon. Students can participate by calling their loved ones or even some of the donors for contributions. Also on Feb. 13, UTPB will have a profit sharing night with Raising Cane's in Odessa. "We're fortunate to be able to ... partner with them on Falcon Giving Day," Payen said. He added that no gift is too big or too small. Associate Director of Bands Lyndsay Eiben said students buy their own instruments or UTPB supplies them if students can't afford them. The instruments are supplied to them for the year as long as they are in band. The lifespan of many of the instruments is finite so they have to be rotated in and out. They also have to have instruments repaired after a certain period of time and have to have them cleaned after a student uses them so they can be checked out to a new student. "All those things cost money and so we are so grateful for any ... help that we can get," Eiben said. To say that they are grateful for the donation would be a "vast understatement," Eiben said. "There's so much that goes into it and we show up to work every day and we get to see these students. They come from all walks of life. "Some of them it's really difficult for them to even afford college at all, so the fact that we can supply not only an environment that's fun where they get to make music and meet new people, but they also get to get help with paying for their college education. "I'm a first-generation college graduate myself and I'm someone who also struggled paying for school and so I know exactly what it means to these kids to get that kind of support. It means everything and now they're going to have a better future and a better shot at having a wonderful job because of people like Jim Woodcock," Eiben said.
