LAWTON — The chairman of United Way of Southwest Oklahoma’s 2021 fundraising campaign is confident that the organization will surpass this year’s goal, he said.
“We are going to raise that money and go above and beyond,” said Hossein Moini.
Moini and other United Way supporters gathered Friday morning in Gore Meridian Park to launch the nonprofit organization’s annual fundraising drive. The campaign will continue until Dec. 1.
As part of the campaign, Classic Chevrolet has teamed up with the United Way to raffle off a new vehicle. People may purchase raffle tickets from United Way board members, staffers or volunteers.
The tickets cost $35 apiece, or $100 for three tickets. All proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to the United Way.
The United Way has set a $1.25 million goal this year, up from $1 million in 2020. The funds will be divided among 19 social service agencies that receive financial assistance from the United Way.
Those agencies have done an outstanding job of helping their clients over the past year and a half, even though they had less cash on hand because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Moini said.
“We know COVID is happening, but at the same time, what else are we going to do?” he said. “We still have a lot of folks that are hungry every night, and we know we still have a lot of folks that don’t have a place to sleep.”