The "Extraordinary Lancaster" Story

Local NBC station WGAL was one of many who broadcast
daylong updates as to how much money was raised.

It was an ordinary day.  And, Lancaster County reached deep into their pockets and donated an astrono- mical amount of money in this year's Extraordinary Give which was hosted by the Lancaster County Community Foundation.  Friday evening, November 20th saw many Lancastrians gather to celebrate in center square of downtown Lancaster.  The Griest Buildiing, one of Lancaster's tallest buildings in center square was lit with a variety of colors in the windows. The light show was orchestrated to celebrate the occasion and was put together by Atomic Lighting which provided the gear and by Meteor Tower which handled the engineering and the design.  The idea was to create a beacon of light that would draw people into the city and bring attention to the fundraising drive.  For years Lancaster's residents gave to the United Way.  I can remember year after year the school district where I taught would deduct a gift of your choice from your paycheck, if you cared to give.  

The Griest Building is aglow with light to celebrate.

That yearly fundraiser was successful year after year, but didn't seem to be able to meet the demands of all the needy non-profits in the area, so along came the Extra- ordinary Give in 2012.  Organizations, all non-profit, could register and participate in The Extraordinary Give.  The organizations  would try to solicit gifts and donations which would go to their group while all groups registered would divide the monetary amount that was given to the general Extraordinary Gift account.  The first year $1.6 Million was raised.  As you can see, giving in Lancaster County is part of our fabric, our soul, our DNA if you will.  The following year the amount rose to $3.2 Million.  Wow!!  Than last year the community gave an astounding $4.4 Million.  

Poster for the Extraordinary give.

This year there were 367 participating organizations who asked for gifts from the community.  The organizations were broken down into groups such as: Education, Environment, Animal Related, Health Care, Housing, Human Services, Senior Living, Food/Agriculture/- Nutrition, Arts/Culture/Humanities and Youth Development.  During the 24 hour period of the 2015 Extraordinary Give, people of the community could make donations in person at the organizations or go online to make a contribution.  Carol and I began a few years ago to donate to the SPCA which is located to the south of Lancaster City.  We went online during the 20th and donated to the SPCA, which in turn returned a "Thank You" by email to us.  Well, this year there were 40,203 gifts which totaled $6,134,244.78.  How about that!!  Our community is alive and well and those that were able to give, did so in a big way.  It certainly was an Extraordinary Give!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.