Travis County Commissioners Court
December 15, 2009,
Item A1
A 1 is to receive update on the 2009 Travis County combined charities campaign.
after this item we will go go to the cbdg items.
>> good morning, good morning, my name is dana debeauvoir, Travis County clerk and chair of combined charities for Travis County this year.
i will take this quickly, but wanted to give you an update on where we are.
especially since I bring you good news.
last year, we all faced a very difficult year trying to raise money for all of our charities.
we were a little concerned with the impending collapse of the economy, perhaps a little too strong, that we weren't going to be able to do very much good work for our charities.
but we ended up in Travis County raising $204,000 for our charities.
so fast forward to this year, times are even worse, we are very worried about our charities, are we going to be able to raise them enough money so that then they can go out and help these folks in need.
i am very proud to say that so far we have raised over $180,000, so we are right on track to help our charities out again this year.
even though I think we all know that we face a tougher year this year than last year.
so -- so this is really heart warming news for everybody.
a couple of important points for you all to remember.
first of all, we had a fabulous fall festival, even though we ended up with -- with bad weather and it has to be rescheduled, it turned out to be wonderful, anyway.
i would like to call your attention to a couple of people who have made a really, really big difference.
sam Biscoe and Commissioner Huber, thank you very much for contributing to the reception that helped acknowledge our really big givers.
the folks that have given a thousand dollars or so, we have more folks, they certainly did step up in the year that rereally did need them.
thank you, judge, Commissioner, we really appreciate that.
you did good.
>> [ applause ] especially thank you to david escamilla our county attorney for also stepping up, helping with the reception, also he stepped in for me, talk about a double help.
i ended up being sick with strep throat that day and he carried on the reception and made sure our people were all very well taken care of and honored for their work.
i appreciate that.
of course roy minton across the street helped to make the reception possible, too.
now I get to brag on a couple more people.
one of them tops on my list is Commissioner Ron Davis.
this fine gentleman here has not only racked up a 100% contribution in his office, but doubled his participation from last year.
so thank you, Commissioner.
once again, straight from the heart.
>> [ applause ] a couple more folks to thanks.
facilities management.
roger el khoury, kim jamail and the folks over there, john carr and all of those guys over at facilities.
they are also running at 100%, they have given more this year than they gave last year.
now that is just absolutely wonderful and we appreciate them.
but they are not the only ones who have done more this year than they did last year.
knowing that these charities are facing a tougher year.
purchasing has done more, probate court, jp 2, jp 3, constable 3, constable 5, of course bruce, our sheriff, pretrial services, juvenile public defenders, emergency services, t.n.r., and our criminal justice planning.
please let's thank them because they really stepped up to the plate this year.
ben sergeant who was part of raising money for Travis County this year, absolutely not only talented but full of heart and just adorable, big thank you to him, but also remember that we have not finished raising money and ben sergeant's cartoons are in fact on sale online in Travis County, you can pick up one still today online and remember that those are signed.
now, as we begin to wrap up and close up our -- our fundraising for this year for our charities, we are so close to making our goal for this year and I do believe we're going to make it, I do believe Travis County is going to raise another $200,000 this year for our combined charities.
we are so close.
i believe it's going to happen.
we have got people out there who are still working, but we have yet to hear from them.
so I just wanted to say, we're wishing you good luck, but we would like to hear from the tax assessor collector, jp 1, jp 4, although we think they are very close, constable 1, constable 2, constable 4, ces we think they are very close on a very good check coming our way, county records management and health and human services.
the d.a.
is working very hard, we hope to hear fruits of their labor very soon, too.
once again this is our last big push, we are almost to meet our goal, really unheard of in this economy, my heart breaks at the generosity of county government, county employees, thank you to the court and thank you to county employees for making this a successful year, despite all of our doubts about whether we could do it.
>> cecelia --
>> so the deadline is December 31.
>> it is, we moved it to December 31st because we have some people who are still just working, working, working at this, we want to bring everything in.
remember all of this goes to many, many charities.
you get to pick your own charity to support for combined charities.
so let's get that paperwork in before the end of the year.
>> dana, let me say this to you real quick.
and I -- I'm -- I called you cecelia, I didn't intend that.
cecelia burke was still on my mind.
but in an effort, I really want to let folks know, is there -- can you let folks know when is the final date for -- to participate.
if they haven't, there is a -- there is a cutoff date?
>> we were hoping to have all of the paperwork in by the 15th so that our fiscal manager could do everything by the end of the year.
>> [one moment please for change in captioners] ...
over at the sheraton and, of course, it is really a heart-warming evidence of what this organization do to help persons.
and rubin stodard, he is "american idol" type, everybody was screaming and hollering and we walked in and all those young children that -- it was amazing to see the impact and what they go through dealing with sickle cell.
it was very educational and this outreach helps a lot of folks, it really does.
>> it's a good example, it's a good story of what we can do when we all pitch in together.
look how much money we've raised so far and we're going to hit our goal this year.
>> thanks.
>> thank you.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 2:30 PM
