Black Friday and Cyber Monday are focused on shopping but today is Giving Tuesday.About five years ago, non-profit, “the 92nd Street Y” in New York City launched the social media campaign to encourage consumers to contribute their time or money to a charity on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
Locally, the United Way of Knox County and its partner agencies are looking to make the most of the young holiday.
Back in August agency members were searching for a way to support United Way’s campaign and put a spotlight on its partner agencies.
The result is a Facebook campaign today, with hourly posts that highlight the work of agencies supported by United Way.
There are slideshows, testimonials and descriptions of service agencies provided along with a link to the United Way website to make a contribution.
Just a few of the partner agencies with United Way of Knox County include; Big Brothers Big Sisters, Prairie State Legal Services, the Knox County YMCA and CASA of Knox County.
CASA Executive Director Sara Robison tells WGIL Giving Tuesday can be thought of as a reaction to Black Friday.
“It’s getting people to engage in their communities and kind of move past the materialistic part of this time of year and really look at giving back to their communities and how they can support the efforts that are being made locally to make Knox County a better place to live,” Robison says.
United Way has 18 partner agencies supporting 22 programs.
