UTEP’s State Employee Charitable Campaign Raises Over $100K for State and Local Charities

Last Updated on December 22, 2020 at 12:00 AM

Originally published December 22, 2020

By Elizabeth Ashby

UTEP Communications

Every year, faculty and staff from The University of Texas at El Paso donate thousands of dollars to local and regional charities through the annual State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC).

Faculty and staff from The University of Texas at El Paso donated more than $104,000 to this year's State Employee Charitable Campaign despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the majority of faculty and staff working remotely throughout the Fall 2020 semester, UTEP employees donated more than $104,000 to this year’s campaign.

“Even as our campus faced unprecedented circumstances, we’re so humbled to see this level of dedication from the UTEP community,” said 2020-21 SECC Committee Chair Nicole Aguilar. “This year’s response rivaled previous years, which shows the commitment we have to our mission of positively impacting the community we serve.”

This year's campaign, titled “UTEP Gives - Making a Difference Together,” ran from September through October 2020.

While previous campaigns were able to engage employees through activities such as a soccer goal shootout, a volleyball tournament, and a dunking booth in Centennial Plaza, the SECC planning committee created a virtual dunking booth video game this year to celebrate the contributions and incentivize participation.

“Although we didn’t have the advantage of having face-to-face interaction throughout this campaign, we were very pleased to see engagement with our colleagues,” said Marc Cox, Ph.D., SECC Committee vice chair. “These funds will hopefully make a difference in our community at such a critical time.”

The SECC is a statewide campaign designed to connect state employees in Texas with charities. It started at UTEP in 2012.