Ponca City Public Schools exceed goals for United Way

Woodlands Elementary students doing the big “Reveal” to announce to the school how much they raised.

Thanks to the generosity of Ponca City Public School employees and students, the district raised $49,045 for United Way this year, which exceeded last year’s donation of $45,489. The goal is always to exceed the previous year’s donations.

This was the second year in a row the district held site competitions, with school sites challenging each other to see who could increase their donations by the highest percentage. Here are this year’s top three winners:

East Middle School           92.18 percent increase

West Middle School          67.27 percent increase

Child Nutrition                   62 percent increase.

In addition to a staff campaign, the district also does a student campaign. Ponca City students donated $5,638 this year, with Woodlands students donating the highest amount at $1,873.

“Our staff and students really go all every year out for this cause,” said Curtis Layton, Ponca City School Executive Director of Human Resources and United Way spokesman. “Each site has a representative that leads the charge at their particular building. We challenged our staff to exceed our donation the last two years, and each time we have met that goal.

“The United Way, and their partner organizations, provide services for people in the Ponca City Community. These funds will likely benefit hundreds of our district families through the variety of programs under the umbrella of United Way. I am very proud of our employees, students and site representatives. It takes a lot of work to organize and run this campaign.”