RTR: A million dollar fundraiser tonight and tomorrow
SUNBURY—Raise the Region begins tonight at 6pm, and it could raise more than a million and a half dollars for more than 300 Valley non-profit organizations. The annual fundraiser, put on by the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania, and heavily funded by the Alexander Family Dealerships, runs from 6pm tonight to midnight Thursday.
Jason McCahan is their director of strategic philanthropy, “It is a 30-hour online giving campaign, where you just go and just make a gift with a credit card. You can give to one organization or as many as you want. The cool part about this is, we’re fortunate to have the Alexander Family Dealerships behind us because they have some stretch funds that they will put on every gift that’s made, will be increased.”
Donations will be stretched by a $150,000 contribution from Blaise Alexander Family Dealerships. McCahan says the overriding goal is to encourage people who are already generous, to take advantage of the stretching dollars and the prize money, and it also may encourage more people to become donors for various non-profit groups.
He talked about some new prizes this year, “UPMC Susquehanna is on board this year. They’re a new sponsor; they’re going to offer what we call a ‘Minute Match’ where they will sponsor, for sixty-seconds, dollar for dollar, a match, until a certain threshold has been met. The area local Walmart donated several prizes tonight. They will start off with a thousand dollar prize for the organization that gets the first fifty gifts,” he said.
Aubrey Alexander, of the car dealerships said, most of all, it’s fun, “This is a lot of fun, like I said, this is our fifth year with Raise the Region. But, it is a lot of fun, and when you can always give back like that and make a difference, what greater thing can you do.”
Raise the Region will help 327 organizations, and will enjoy more than $150,000 from the Alexander Family Dealerships. You can participate on their website RaiseTheRegion.org.
