TYLER, Texas —
East Texas Giving Day helps provide funding for more than 190 non-profits in our area.
In 2019, 185 local nonprofits participated in East Texas Giving Day and gathered more than $1,300,000 in donations.
This year, East Texas Giving Day added a COVID-19 immediate needs option, with 67 non-profits you can donate to.
Donations can be made online until midnight today, April, 28. If you would like to donate, click here.
Megan Riaz is the community relations coordinator at Bethesda Health Clinic in Tyler. She says most of their patients are under-insured or not insured at all.
"Our patients are at risk both medically and financially,” Riaz said. “If they've been impacted by COVID-19 it's going to take a greater toll on them. A lot of them have chronic diseases, so they're higher at risk if they were to contract COVID-19, it would be potentially fatal for them."
Other nonprofits participating are the Alzheimer's Association, Bethesda Health Clinic, the First Tee of Greater Tyler, Children's Advocacy Center of Smith County, and more.
“It'll basically just be continuing to help our programs keep on running, you know, because of COVID-19,” Emily Gerhart, Outreach Coordinator with the Children's Advocacy Center of Smith County said. “We've had to cancel some fundraisers in the spring, just for the safety of our staff volunteers in the community. So that is taking some toll on us."
Allie Graves is a high school senior, Miss Texas Outstanding Teen, and a child abuse survivor. She credits the Children's Advocacy Center for helping her during a difficult time in her life.
“It's so important because again, they're sacrificing more than the normal person would,” Graves said. “I would always bring it back to my story, what they've done in my life, and how they've impacted my life."