(uplifting music) - [Narrator] The Association of Fundraising Professionals, 2021 National Philanthropy Day was back to an in-person event.

Feels good to be together again.

We had an excellent speaker, Lynne Twist, the Founder of the Soul of Money Institute and author of the best-selling award-winning book, "The soul of money: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Life," and we recognized some amazing businesses and individuals.

For Tyson foods, being recognized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals for National Philanthropy Day highlights their corporate philosophy, giving back and taking care of their own.

- Well Tyson, has helped, you know, we have an annual campaign with the United Way.

We support most nonprofits that have anything to do with kids' education.

In fact, we've actually handed out over a hundred thousand pounds of ground beef to various organizations and created a community pantry program that we're in partnership with Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle that serves as a hub, and we will deliver frozen food items to them, and then other food pantries in the area can collect from them to take back to their areas of town.

You know Tyson's wants to be the protein company and it's our mission to feed the world with good food, and so it's good to build a relationship with the community where our team members work, live, and play, and so, we wanna have a relationship and do what we can to support that community, which in turn supports our team members.

- Last year during COVID, when we were all expecting things to be a little bit lower, Tyson actually raised a hundred thousand dollars more last year than they had the year before, the year before that they raised $80,000 more than they had the year prior, and I think that that just speaks to the leadership that's in place out there that is reiterating the message of giving back to community and helping folks, especially a group that comes from another area, immigrants, understand what sort of programs are happening in our community that they can turn around and support.

Not only did we have an extra hundred thousand dollars to work with for folks who were really struggling and needing that support, but they were also this shining example of you can raise more in a global crisis.

You can push further and do more, and I think it really helped illustrate what it means when we talk about the greater good that it just takes a little bit more from each of us so that we can meet as many needs as possible.

- My job is to help our employees at Tyson find resources in the community when they hit a bump in the road.

But the other side of my job is to make sure Tyson is being the good community partner.

- Really, the Tyson family is everyone.

It's leadership from the very top, all the way down to the workers on the line who just started that day, and they very much will tell you that they are a family out there and they've worked so hard to respect and represent all of the cultures that are represented with folks out there and helping them navigate cultural differences, language differences, you name it to be United working together on what they're trying to accomplish, and so they is everyone in the Tyson family.

- You know, we have 4,000 employees out there.

It's a small city until you've got 4,000 people that have 4,000 problems and different issues and different concerns, and the main thing is that they wanna provide for their family, and so my job out there is to connect the resources in Amarillo with our team members at the plant.

And so someone's got an issue I can call United Way, and with all the programs and services that they offer with all the various nonprofits, we can connect our team members to those resources, and so once they hear that their fellow team members have been receiving help, you know, a hand up, not a handout, just getting something that helps them get back on their feet.

They tell everybody else out there, or maybe they're the ones that receive that help, and they tell other people, so they're eager to give back because they saw that resource benefited them and their coworkers.

So it's that cycle that run of supporting the community and the resources, and then those resources coming back to support our team members in their of need.

- [Narrator] Congratulations, to our 2021 Outstanding Large Business, Tyson Foods.

(upbeat music) (uplifting music) For many years, Access Credit Union has sought after ways to share with the community.

They make giving back a priority and their contributions make a difference.

- To find out that Access Community Credit Union won from our nomination.

It's one of those things that it's nice to be able to recognize someone who doesn't want the recognition, you know, they're kinda behind the scenes, and they enjoy that, and it's nice to be able to say no, no, no, no, you need to be recognized.

It was just really a great feeling.

We've worked with Access, for gosh, a long time and their generosity it exceeds every year.

It's crazy to get a phone call or get a message that said, hey, can we meet for lunch?

And I have a feeling I know what's coming.

(laughs) When we meet for lunch or meet for coffee, and they found some money and rather than putting it away, or doing something with internal, they wanna push it in the community and bless others with it.

- Well, for many years, we've given back many decades, I should say, but I think it all begins with our purpose as a not-for-profit cooperative.

A lot of people will call us a bank, but we do everything a bank does, but it's not about shareholders, and it's certainly not a profit driven.

And so, we feel like one of our responsibilities is to reinvest in the community, and one of the ways we've done that is through our Community First Committee.

Basically, three years ago, we said, we're going to give a portion of our earnings, which it's been almost 11% per year back to the Panhandle, and what we've done is each month we just set aside a portion, and we have reinvested that, but we tie that very closely into communicating with our team that not only are you here to serve folks financial security and make their dreams a reality, but you're also supporting your community by what you do, generating the re-investment process in the community.

(uplifting music) It's hard to put in words how much we've received that has nothing to do.

I mean, the money's important, right?

It has to come from somewhere, but the blessing back has been things that we see happening and that our team sees happening that just being a part of it, it's as simple as that, and all you have to do is find one organization.

It doesn't matter how small your business is.

Find someone that you can help and volunteer your time, and I guarantee if you volunteer your time, you're gonna wanna open your pocket book.

I believe that with all my heart.

(uplifting music) - The neat thing is we don't get to hold access to ourselves, and it's just our organization that partners with us.

They've partnered with numerous nonprofits across the community.

Gosh, you know, they're always looking for ways they can jump in, and if they hear about an organization that needs something or needs something donated, then I know I've been there in a meeting or two, and they're working on another project that they're helping somebody else with, so they're just a very, very generous and very giving organization, and that's the culture they have there, which is really awesome.

From 24 hours in the canyon to the Cancer Survivorship Center, as well as the Children's Miracle Network, they're always willing to jump in, fill a need.

Yeah, provide a toy, you know, chest, or whatever they need they're willing to do it, and so they've become quite a great partner for our entire foundation, not just one or two pieces.

We all know there's so many nonprofits in this community from very, very tiny, maybe a one person, you know, no, no staff person, a hundred percent volunteer all the way up to large, and everybody has a need, and they're all about filling those gaps.

- It takes a lot to render me speechless, but for a moment, I was rendered speechless.

We were pretty, pretty thrilled at that news, and Jeremy, we just didn't expect it.

I don't guess been giving back to the community for some time, and we were surprised to receive that honor.

- [Narrator] Congratulations to our 2021 Outstanding Small Business, Access Credit Union.

(uplifting music) When you look on the Soroptimists of Amarillo Facebook page, you get a good idea of their local volunteer work.

- The overall philanthropy of Soroptimist again is to help women and girls through education.

We offer scholarships to single mothers who are going back to school, trying to break that cycle of poverty.

We also have a what's called To Live Your Dream Award, which we granted three of those last year, and we're currently seeking applicants for the scholarship and for the Live Your Dream Award.

- Soroptimist has worked with Downtown Women's Center for over 20 years, and they have provided so many opportunities for our women and children throughout the whole year for 20 years.

We have done things such as Christmas parties, painting pumpkin set, Halloween, tailgate parties, and Valentine, Easter, so it's not just one time during the year they come out with activities.

We don't have to do one thing.

All Downtown Women's Center has to do is show up, and we bring our ladies, and they enjoy.

- We have been involved with lots of groups of women, such as Patsy's Place, this part of sharing hope ministries.

We've done work with Martha's Home and are continuing to do that.

We have worked with No Boundaries, and we just go out and seek organizations of women that need our help, but Downtown Women's Center has more or less been our signature project for a number of years, and we love the women there.

- I believe that the mission of Soroptimists is basically to provide women and girls an excellent opportunity to further their education so that they can better support themselves.

That's basically what Downtown Women's Center wants for our women, and we agree with them.

We are on the same page with Soroptimist and our women, we're focused on them staying clean and sober and living their life that way, but being successful and productive when they leave us.

- We have worked with the Downtown Women's Center who nominated us.

For many, many years, we try to interact with the women at Downtown Women's Center and be a support group for them and encourage them along their paths, and we just love the mission of Downtown Women's Center.

Soroptimist has had a big impact in my life.

As a member for 27 years, I have made lots of friends, and I love the mission of supporting women and girls and trying to help educate those women and girls.

Our local club, as I said, has been around for 44 years, and sometimes we think we're the best kept secret in Amarillo, and we don't want to be that.

- Life is hard, and for some it's harder.

We believe that Downtown Women's Center serves those whose lives are harder, and the Soroptimist had been there with us over 20 years helping us help the women and children that we serve in cheering them on.

- When you see one of these women succeed and graduate from college, it really makes you feel good about what Soroptimist has done to help that person because again, if you educate the women, you educate the village.

- [Narrator] Congratulations, and thank you to our 2021 Outstanding Community Service Organization, Soroptimist, International of Amarillo.

(uplifting music) The State Farm Foundation requires their local agents to be involved in local programs like a good neighbor, and by pairing funding with volunteerism, it serves them and the community well.

- Yeah, I mean, State Farm has been open to any types of organizations, a big one that I'm a part of has been hockey.

It's been 10 years of dedication.

State Farm has been by my side the whole time we built an arena last year, which is pretty amazing from a non hockey market to be able to give back to about 500 members now, and state farm was one of the biggest givers of that group, so there's many groups that we've been a part of.

I know Maverick Boys and Girls Clubs has been a priority, but they've given back to many.

- At the Maverick club, we have been receiving funding from them every year since 2007.

When you call them, they come, and that's what I like about them they have supported when we got the Community Golf Tournament with United, they bought tee boxes.

Most of them bought tee boxes.

Anytime when we've had any presentations for the community, like when we got the imagination playground, their staff were here, high-fiving the kids as they came in and getting out on the floor and playing with the kids and building with them imagination playground, so they have just been so involved, and they want to be involved, and so it's just a pleasure to work with them.

- I grew up in the Boys and Girls Club all the way back from the time I was six years old till a freshman in high school, so if you look at the history of State Farm, not only with the Mavericks Club but just throughout the community of State Farm, whether it's Amarillo in Pennock School district, or whatever, you can just see that State Farm has always given back to the kids and to the community, and it's important to start that foundation at an early age.

You know, if you look at this group of agents, I think there's 30 some agents in the Panhandle, and if you look at all of us, you don't always see it in the bright lights or on the TV, but behind the scenes what the agents are doing along with State Farm to give back to the community, just a lot of independent stuff, whether it's with the Hockey Association like Jason has said, or the youth baseball or Amarillo independent schools or the Mavericks Club, or the Harrington Cancer Center.

I mean, a lot of it you don't hear about, but that's one of the biggest things of State Farm.

You know, we talk about being part of the community, being part of the neighborhood, and you build those neighborhoods from within, and then they spread out and create their own communities.

And so I think it's just always been a proud traditional State Farm back to 1922 to always give back to the communities, always be part of the neighborhood.

- They have a mindset of mentoring each other, and that's what we like here is we like mentoring, and so they're very familiar with mentoring because they're seasoned long time, even retired agents, mentor those younger agents and get them involved and that's what we're all about, so they're a perfect match for what we do in the programs that we provide, and they're all family people.

- Well, it's such a great sponsor that I'm excited about is what the difference has made over the past five years with the Boys and Girls Club.

Working with Rita directly, and the amount of money that was given to an organization to improve education and the results we've got from 33% of the kids not reading at a grade level to where we're at today at 98% couldn't be more proud as an organization as a State Farm agent, and that's the true differences is making a difference for kids.

(uplifting music) Since I've been a State Farm agent for the nine years, the passion this company has to give is beyond anything.

I know our job is risk of the unexpected, but the other job is to really make a difference in the community.

- One of the things that brought me to become a State Farm agent was just knowing how State Farm backs the communities, how they want to give back to the neighborhoods, and just if you look throughout the years, what they've done, I mean, I've been here 16 years, and every year I'm amazed at how much money state farm gives back to the communities.

- [Narrator] Congratulations to the State Farm Foundation, our 2021 Outstanding Foundation.

(uplifting music) The 2019 Celebration of Hope was a successful community event, not only for raising the awareness of Turn Center and its services, but also for the impact on the families of their patients.

- For the Panhandle, It's a huge event mainly just to celebrate the Turn Center in general.

Just everything that the Turn Center does for the Panhandle in the surrounding areas is incredible.

The work that's done here, once you enter the doors, I mean, the place is just magical.

There's just something so special about it, so to get to celebrate everything that this event kind of means to them and just the Panhandle is incredibly special.

The night is just special.

This place is special, and anybody that you ask that knows about the Turn Center, as heard about it, can tell you just what an incredible impact it has made in their life.

- Back in 2019, this was the year that we were going over the top with absolutely everything.

I like to do things big, and I personally wanted to have pyrotechnics and all kinds of things that were canned as ideas, but we were able to pull some remarkable things off, and one of the best things I remember at the time, Andra Day's song rise up was very popular, and in that video, it follows a woman taking care of her husband, who's paralyzed, and they go through the day.

So we had the idea that we could recreate this concept and present it to our community as a way to showcase what our families go through every single day because a lot of people don't understand what it takes to take care of a child with special needs, and so we selected two of our families, and they were willing to participate.

We hired a wonderful film crew.

They went out to their homes and did, they followed them through their day, you know, getting ready and then coming to therapy, and then following them through therapy session.

(uplifting music) - We had kind of a fair type thing where each department in the Turn Center had little activities for you to specifically see what it is that they have to offer.

- So during the event, as an extra special surprise, we showed the video, and then Rebecca came out on stage and sung it live, and not only did she sing it, we had the First Baptist Youth Choir come out on stage with her and join her in their choir robes, and by best point, everybody's just in tears, and to top that off, we had the children featured in the video come out on stage, joined by their families and their therapists.

It was phenomenal.

I think we were all able to really feel the impact that Turn Center makes.

One of the other things that was really cool about this event was that 2019 was the inaugural year for Sod Poodles.

Margaret and Jerry Hodge are dear friends and a wonderful donors, and they decided as part of our live auction, they would donate a night in their suite.

So a night in Hodge town, the inaugural year, it was one of our auction items, and that was a little bit of a surprise to our community too.

So we had ruckus come out on stage, and everything was new and wonderful, and ruckus helped Charlie sell that suite, and Jerry was so kind that not only did he auction it off webs, he auctioned it off three times, and we were able to raise about $45,000 of it three nights in Jerry Hodges' suite.

- They actually got to see what it is that the programs that they have here offer.

They even had activities where you could interact.

That was one of my favorite parts, as well as when Rebecca came out and singing, just having that choir and her voice is amazing.

So that really just was very touching and moving, and you really could hear a pin drop just afterwards.

It was very meaningful.

Everybody that is a part of this organization, or know somebody a part of it, just feels so inspired by what it is that this place has done for not only the families and the kids, but for the Panhandle.

- So in Turn Center received support from individuals and businesses.

We also receive insurance payments, and so there's a significant need for donors to step up and say, you know what?

This child is worth it.

It is absolutely worth my contribution to help children learn how to walk, learn how to talk and learn how to eat.

These are essential services, and I wanna do my part by contributing financially.

- [Narrator] Congratulations to Turn Center, our 2021 Outstanding Event.

(uplifting music) As our 2021 Outstanding Philanthropists, the AFP recognizes Cheryl and Alex Fairly.

(uplifting music) - There's no question about the importance of WT to this area.

- You can call me about five years ago and said Alex, I'm a big WT fan, and you kinda said, why aren't you?

And I feel like sometimes we take every key for Granted been down there for over a hundred years, and it's turned out eons of educators and nurses and ad people, and sometimes we just forget how incredible this university is down there.

I'm gonna say to my neighbors, like, don't take for granted this incredible place that it's so important to us here, culturally, educationally, socially, musically.

We gotta support it, and we gotta grow it, and we gotta give to it, and it's worth our time because it's so impactful.

- I think this campaign, there's an opportunity to say, look just standby a little bit, look what we have, let me share with you what we're about and all the opportunities and how we growed.

- You know, if I look at just our little town, the teachers, getting emotional.

(laughs) We have a best of array of teachers that code to, and they teach Margaret to open, and they get their education here.

And we have a small hospital district in Dimmitt, and we have a lot of nurses that get their education there.

And for we invest back into that.

We're investing in our community.

We're investing in lots of communities around here.

- We need innovative principal, administrators, and teachers, and WT supplies, I would say 80% of all the teachers, and MRI into their surrounding communities.

- If People go here.

They're highly likely to stay here, and so if we want to keep our way of life, and our brightest and best, we need to find a home for them here, and we need to give them a reason to stay here, and I think WT is doing that.

They're giving them reasons with really good programs, with really good faculty, and this campaign is gonna enhance that.

- And I just think that we're really in positioned.

We can draw people into our community, and not even people that weren't here to begin with can become a part of this area.

- And I'm telling you the things, the programs, they have at WT right now, it's impressive.

So, I mean, there's no question about importance of the campaign.

It'll give WT a chance to become an innovative.

- We're a small university in small towns, USA, but we're a valuable university, and we've got rich resources because when you just look around this table, we've all been blessed by our education that we got WT, and would you extend that out?

There are hundreds and hundreds and really thousands upon thousands of people that have been blessed by their education at WT, and if we can just convince those people to give back a little piece of what they gained from this university, this campaign is going to be a huge success.

(uplifting music) - [Narrator] Congratulations to our 2021 Outstanding Philanthropists, Cheryl and Alex Fairly.

(uplifting music) Ross Wilson has worked and collaborated with leaders in our community to maintain and improve the quality of life in the Texas Panhandle for a good while, and though his leadership centers around the cattle industry, everyone who lives in our area, benefits from his efforts as one associate says, Ross Wilson walks the talk.

- Well, I have to admit, I was surprised, I was humbled, and honored because there's so many other people that would be much more deserving than I, but it allows me the opportunity to share this with number of others that are involved, which would be the leaders of Texas Cattle Feeders Association and staff who have also worked for many years to support WT and then a number of volunteer leaders and philanthropists that I've had the honor of getting to know on several projects in involving WT.

So it's really more about a group of people than about me, but so I guess I'm honored to accept it on behalf of those, that team.

Managing a nonprofit has allowed me to work with people who are willing to give of their time and their money to support the greater good of an industry cause, and that effort through the years is part of what's led me to work with WT in different venues, whether it's the teaching and training of students who become future employees and leaders within our industry, seeing the great research that goes on at WT.

So it's really a part of being inspired by the people that I've had the honor to work with in my career.

- Ross has a working knowledge of the various impacts that affect agriculture through the political process that is remarkable.

He may know more about this than anybody else in the state of Texas, and he brings that to bear in his decision-making, his recommendations, his counsel, and his advice.

I think the greatest benefit is that he has been a nucleus for a philanthropic in activity around the AG school, which is very important because we need investments in our agricultural programs to continue to make them stronger in strong.

- We were very excited to hear that Ross had won the award because he really does epitomize what every fundraiser dreams about with regards to having an engaged volunteer.

We're very lucky at WT that we have a lot of volunteers, but Ross, in particular, was instrumental here at WT with the fundraising for the Department of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, in particularly the College of Agricultural and Natural Sciences.

- If it's about WT that's easy because not only myself but a lot of others are very passionate about the mission and vision of WT and serving not only the Texas Panhandle but this entire region.

I'm inspired by President Windler and the faculty and staff at West Texas A and M, and I may be even more inspired by a lot of the volunteer leaders and philanthropists that I've had the opportunity to work with as several projects have moved forward.

I probably shouldn't name names, but I will name a few people like the Schaefers and the Peels, the Vanes, the Rodgers, the Fairly, and others, Jim J, so it's been a great opportunity to work with those people, to learn from them, to watch as they donate, has they contribute, as they raise funds.

So it truly has been a team effort, and that's a big part of why I am humbled and honored by this award.

And I've worked with several presidents at WT.

I'm not sure that they've had a greater president than Walter Windler his passion, just his genuine care for students and for the area, is truly inspiring.

One thing that's inspiring about WT is their faculty walk the talk.

So they're always challenging their students to think down the road when they get in a position where they can give back, whether it's time or financial resources that they truly do need to be the future philanthropists for the area.

- [Narrator] Congratulations to our 2021 Outstanding Volunteer, Ross Wilson.

(uplifting music) Our Lifetime Achievement Award recipient for 2021 is Charlotte Rhodes.

She brings passion, skill, and determination to achieving goals that truly make our community better.

- So I will never forget the first day that I met Charlotte Rhodes.

I had recently graduated from college, and started my first non-profit job, and joined the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

So this is my first meeting ever.

I'm nervous, I don't know many people, and we're milling about, and all of a sudden, I see this, it's just like this burst of energy with blonde hair that comes in the door, and I'm looking around, and so I asked somebody, I said, who is that?

And they said, oh, that Charlotte Rhodes.

She just had this aura about her, and it was so respected by everyone in the room.

- Well, I was actually a founder of the chapter, and I started out really not ever thinking that I would be a fundraiser, but when you become a volunteer in the community, we find out that you better learn how to be a fundraiser that's what's required.

But I started my career early on as a Director of the Retired Senior Volunteer program, and I realized that I needed help, and particularly, if I was going to reach out to people all over the Panhandle.

And so I began doing some research and learned about the national organization, and I knew some people that were involved in that, and so I got involved in that, and then we began to work with others locally, and I think we put a pretty good chapter together.

I'm so proud of the work that everyone's done.

I think that the funds that have been raised in this community have made it what it is.

Charitable giving is something that just doesn't happen, you know, people are used to giving to their churches, which is wonderful, and I think that's where the first money certainly should go and education.

But when it comes to nonprofit organizations, that was a whole new field, and I cannot believe I think maybe there are over 200 in this community now, and there were really very few of them when we started.

So anyway, I'm so proud of everyone.

(uplifting music) The one that stands out to me is the Don and Sybil Harrington Cancer Center, and that's probably the first campaign in the community volunteer that I worked on.

It's when that center was built, the campaign actually within 1980, and the doors opened in 1981, and I love that campaign because I knew how we needed that in our community and what it would do for the medical center.

Wilder became Vice President of that institution, and that then was actually led to my career by our College of Medicine, but they saved my life, became a cancer patient, and thank goodness I had the Don and Sybil Harrington Cancer Center, and they still take care of me.

So it means so much to me, and I think that happens to a lot of individuals.

You know, you kind of give your time because you have a commitment, and then when you really are involved, it's easy then to make a financial commitment and ask others to give.

- I love talking to Charlotte about preparing for an event or preparing for a capital campaign review because she gets down to the minutest of details.

She doesn't miss anything, if it's a dinner that we're scheduling, I mean, she has this whole list, and it's everything that you need to be sure that you have done and thought about, and that's why anything that she touches always work so well because she has decades honed lists of details and things you need to think about to be sure it's the perfect event, or it's the perfect preparation for a capital campaign or anything that she's working on to be sure that no detail is left untouched.

- I think that your career really began in the volunteer world, and that's how my career began truly with the volunteer, and I think that's important and I encourage all gag people to become volunteers because that's how you learn.

And I said, that's how you learn about the community and decide what you want to do.

But I think the greatest accomplishment of my whole career was that my daughter followed my career and the day that my daughter graduated from the University of Texas, and she came to me shortly after that, and she said, mom, I wanna do what you did, and I said, what?

She said, yeah, I'm gonna be a fundraiser, and I can't believe this, and she's the CEO of Don and Sybil Harrington Cancer foundation, and to me, that the tribute to my career.

- [Narrator] Thank you, and congratulations to our 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Charlotte Rhodes.

(uplifting music) - Well, I guess I was fortunate first to grow up in a home where my parents were very giving people of the local community and our church.

- So I grew up in the Panhandle and was away for most of my adult life until we returned here to WT, and I've been much more conscious about really how people across the Panhandle just consider giving back a part of their DNA.

They don't think about it in terms of something that they should or ought to do.

It just kinda naturally evolves from them, and again, I think if you look at organizations across the Panhandle, we all benefit from that kind of what I call value that's embedded in our very nature from part of this world you pitch in and help.

- You know I feel like philanthropy in the panhandle is very much alive and well.

- I say almost every time we talk about how generous the Panhandle is, I know of no other community or no other area that is as generous as our folks are here in the Panhandle, and I think that's been evident through the year of COVID people stepped up and were incredibly generous, would reach out and say, hey, we know you need it.

We know you've had a down year, here's X dollars, and to have that happen because they know the work that we do is important, and for folks to just come out and say, I know that you guys need this here's a little extra we had.

It just reaffirms how generous this community is.

- I think I am so blessed as everyone else who lives in the Panhandle to live in this area because it is the most generous and philanthropic area I have come across in my 52 years of living on this earth.

The people here understand that we have to band together, and we have to support everything around us because a lot of times we're not going to get help from downstate, or we're not going to get help from the federal government like we need to, and we take care of our own.

And so, I can't think of anywhere else that I would rather live and work and raise my family than the Panhandle of Texas.

- You know, I've been involved in nonprofits for 25 years in this area, and the Texas panhandle is probably the most generous area in the nation, and if you look at the data, it shows you that levels of giving and the cycle of giving, the frequency of giving, is all higher here in the panhandle than anywhere else.

- Oh, it's amazing.

There's not a more giving area of the country, that's just not my observation, I've heard other people say that from other areas in the state, in Texas, and other areas of the country that I work with, this is home, so it's easy to support efforts at home in our own backyard, but it is truly the spirit of this area.

I mean, just look at all of the effort that goes into supporting all of the United Way Agencies, Snack Pack for Kids, and so many other deserving causes.

So it's great to be a part of that, and that's about not only helping people develop and become leaders, those students and other volunteers, but giving a hand up to people who need some help that also have the opportunity to become a future leader with just a little bit of assistance.

- Oh, the Texas Panhandle is incredible.

It's grassroots fundraising from the beginning, but in the Texas Panhandle, people care about people, they do, and, you know, I don't know if it has to do with the fact that our early income was based on the land and working hard or what, (laughs) but in some ways, I think it goes back to that, but the people in the Panhandle are different.

I think from any other people in our state because they give from the heart and they have Christian backgrounds, and they realized that importance of sharing, and it's not only giving money.

They give their time.

They gives their time.

And to me, if you give your time that is just as important because you're helping others.

- I admire that even more that as we come to this place every year, we have to look for those people who are making a difference, and so we're required to look for people who are making a difference in many ways, not just through their financial resources, but also through their time, which is maybe the most valuable resource any of us have, they're volunteering, they're using their strong back to pitch in as well as giving of their financial resources as well.

So again, I love that about the Panhandle.

I love that we really are challenged to recognize philanthropy in giving in all its various forms, and that makes it fun to be part of the culture here.

- AFP has continued their mission of recognizing people who well deserve the recognition, and many times our community, we just have no idea what some group is doing and to have AFP bring that forward and let the whole community see what others are doing in such a positive, creative way, especially during COVID, we've all had to be very creative and come up with otherwise of getting our message out.

AFP, I wanna thank you for continuing and being there for all of us.

- [Narrator] For the 29th year, the AFP has recognized individuals and businesses that have really made a difference through their efforts.

The AFP is grateful for these efforts, and National Philanthropy Day may be called national, but we all feel like it's our very own recognition program.

By highlighting philanthropists, it brings awareness to the many worthy organizations they so passionately support.

They give money, time, skills, and experience, and it's our honor to recognize all they do.

(uplifting music) - You know, when I'm at the canyon at the beginning of our event, and there's 800 or 900 people there, all from 20 states from all over the world.

Sometimes we are very blessed by our participants that are a part of our event.

A lot of them fundraise, and a lot of them are there, not just because it's a bike event, they're there because it's about the cause, and so I think the cause is so powerful, and we all have causes all non-profits, and the cause is so powerful to be able to see that just really it's overwhelming sometimes.

(uplifting music) - [Narrator] Thank you to the many honorees over the years that have made our Texas Panhandle an even better place to live, and thanks for watching.

(uplifting music)