Western Technical College

    At the end of January and in the spirit of giving, after bearing witness to the devastation in Haiti, Western Technical College (WTC) decided to challenge other local career colleges to a fundraising contest after Miriam Fonseca, Front Desk staff at the Branch campus brought the idea to the attention of Administrators.  Several colleges were officially invited to participate in the fundraising challenge, but just a few were brave enough to accept that challenge.  Both International Business College (IBC) and Tristate Cosmetology decided to join in the relief effort. 

  The generous efforts of WTC students, faculty and staff alone fundraised close to $5000.00. Each department had different ways of fundraising, but happily the outcome was overall amazing.  Some departments choose to sell raffle tickets to raise money: Massage Therapy raffled off free massages and Refrigeration and HVAC raffled a dozen roses. Steve Boyce, Information Systems and Security (ISS) and Electronics Engineering Technology Director says, “We started to raise money for Haiti after the first earthquake.  After talking with Mike Speed, ISS Instructor, we decided to use the department funds to purchase an iPod to raffle off.” Health Information Technology donated and raffled off Valentines baskets, while Physical Therapist Assistant faculty and students had a pizza, coffee and muffin sales.  Food sales seem to encourage support as even the front desk staff at the Main Campus pulled off candy and bake sales along with their raffled items. The Medical/ Clinical Assistant Program was the overall winner of the interdepartmental challenge as they held raffles and sold goodies over the 2 week period collecting close to $2000.00.

    In total, over $7000.00 in donations were presented to the American Red Cross by the three participating colleges on February 17 at the Admiral Street location in El Paso. In addition, Little Cesar’s Pizza will be providing pizza for departments at the colleges that raised the most funds.  The giving of a little time, effort, and money and coming together as a whole, has paid off to make to make a huge difference. Photos are available for viewing by clicking here.