March 5, 2004

By Oscar Gutierrez
Contributing writer

Final areawide results are in, and the University of Houston, thanks to contributions from 1,251 faculty and staff members, ranked third place among 39 state agencies participating in the 2003 State Employee Charitable Campaign that ended last fall.

UH contributions, benefiting dozens of area health and human services programs, totaled $145,523.

UH-Clear Lake and UH-Downtown, which are part of the same SECC regional campaign, came in seventh and ninth place, respectively. UH-Victoria employees contributed to a different SECC regional campaign.

In amount of dollars contributed, UH was topped only by the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and UT’s Health Science Center/Houston. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center employees contributing $267,000 to capture first place.

UH employee participation climbed a few percentage points from the 2002 campaign to 28 percent, while the total dollar amount dropped slightly.

The total amount raised by faculty and staff in the four UH System universities through two separate SECC regional campaigns was $188,908.

“Congratulations are in order for all those who contributed to this wonderful charitable program,” said UH SECC Honorary Chair and UH President Jay Gogue. “I am very proud of your commitment to helping those in need - the elderly, the sick, and the poor in our communities. Our gratitude also goes to the volunteer coordinators for your hard work that made this campaign succeed.”