CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — We’ve passed Black Friday and Cyber Monday was yesterday, but did you know about the third holiday this week, Giving Tuesday? It falls on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and this is the 10th year of the holiday. According to the Giving Tuesday website it's, "a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity."
This is something that the faculty and staff at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) annually take part in.
Riley Bullen is one of the staff members from TAMUCC taking part in Giving Tuesday. Although it’s her second year participating, she doesn't think it’s well known enough.
“I didn’t know about it until last year whenever I started working here," said Bullen who works in the business side of Islander Athletics. "I think, I know all 50 states participated last year.”
Giving Tuesday doesn’t just mean donating to your favorite cause. It can mean giving your time or giving back to your community, as well.
“It provides the opportunity to engage with people in our community who always support us throughout anything that we do," Bullen said. "Especially working in athletics, I get to go out and thank those people who support our athletic programs."
For the eighth year, TAMUCC faculty and staff give their time to the community. Over 325 people took part in some volunteer work at 23 places across the city.
Bullen was at the First United Methodist Church’s Garden of Grace making compost. She said this day is also a good way to learn how other people help the community.
“Well, we learned a lot about how it breaks down," she said. "They said a lot of this stuff survived through the freeze last year and the compost was a big part of that.”
From the garden, to the USS Lexington, to the Gulf Coast Humane Society, groups helped out in any way they could.
Just like Alessandra Garcia at the Glenoak Therapeutic Riding Center.
“I want to give to a facility like Glenoak who gives back to the community, the autistic population is dear to my heart," Garcia said, another TAMUCC volunteer. "So, I definitely want to give back to them and this is one way I can.”
Giving Tuesday can also show just how reliant some places are on volunteers.
“Without volunteers, we can’t run our program because we need people to get the horses ready," Joanne Montesano said, a certified PATH instructor at Glenoak. "Sometimes we have as many as six in a class. So, with just a few of us it doesn’t work getting the horses ready.”
TAMUCC has seen an increase in the number of people participating in Giving Tuesday, up from 259 last year and they added more locations to volunteer at.
Montesano said they can always use volunteers, year round, at the riding center.
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