Brownsville entrepreneur Michael Limas, an executive member of the board of directors of the United Way of Southern Cameron County, chaired last year’s fundraising drive, which went virtual due to the pandemic.
A year in the chairman’s seat might be enough for most people, but by Limas’ account he knew there was more work to do, so he offered to chair this year’s campaign too — the first back-to-back chairmanship in the organization’s 65-year history.
“I felt that I still had some gas in the tank,” Limas said.
This year’s fundraiser is a hybrid, with a return to in-person presentations, he said.
“We’re going to be able to get out there,” Limas said. “Obviously we still have to be cognizant of COVID, but I really wanted to give it a go in a more traditional format, where you’re actually going out and presenting and being face to face with folks versus doing it 100 percent virtual, which is good, but the transfer enthusiasm isn’t always there through a screen.”
Last year it was basically Limas and UWSCC campaign coordinator Wendy De Leon, and together they created a successful telethon, though this year’s return to the traditional model so far features seven campaign ambassadors — community leaders and UWSCC board members who fan out across the community to present and deliver the United Way pitch, he said.
In addition to funding UWSCC’s own programs and priorities, donations help support the vital work of 15 different nonprofit local partners, including Friendship of Women, Monica’s and Maggie’s House, and the Moody Clinic, Limas said. Despite a decline in donations last year because of the pandemic, the virtual campaign was very successful, he said.
“Because of those donations we’re still capable of funding our partners at the same level as pre-COVID, and to us that’s a success story, that children that need physical therapy that don’t have the means are still able to get it, or women facing domestic violence issues have a safe space at friendship of women. United Way helps fund those partners. They don’t fund them 100 percent of course, but they do rely on that injection from United Way.”
As chairman, Limas is essentially the campaign’s lead volunteer, again working alongside De Leon, who coordinates things internally and handles most of the logistics, he said. Limas handles the bigger presentations, works with local media and shoots promotional spots while also working as part of the board’s executive team — all the while seeing to his own businesses.
“This past couple of weeks have been the ISD weeks,” he said. “They’ll send me to high schools and I’ll present in front of 200-plus people. Sometimes I’ll work in conjunction with the chairman of the board, who is Art Garza, the CEO of Valley Regional (Medical Center). We did some at Hanna High School together. At the end of the day it’s fun and we get the message out, and just get people excited and hopefully they can contribute to the cause.”
Limas said last year’s dip in donations was anticipated and perfectly understandable because “people’s financial picture changed.” All the same, enough wallets and purses were opened to make a big impact despite the pandemic, he said.
“People were still willing to dip into their wallets and give a little something, maybe not as much as the previous year but they still gave, which to us is amazing,” Limas said.
Stay tuned for special fundraising events in coming months including a holiday telethon, he said, stressing that donations are as essential this year as they’ve ever been. UWSCC does “tremendous work,” not only by itself but through its relationships with charitable organizations.
“I think the relationships they build with the other nonprofits in the area is what just makes United Way what it is, which is just in my opinion the lead nonprofit in town and works well with others” he said. “I think we can all benefit from working well together.”
To make a donation call UWSCC at (956) 548-6880 or visit the website, unitedwayrgv.org.
