From STAFfF REPORTS

AMERICUS — The South Georgia Technical College Foundation kicked off its 17th annual TechForce fundraising drive and South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) employees demonstrated their commitment to help “Make it Happen at South Georgia Tech” through their contributions and participation at a silent auction and luncheon held recently in the John M. Pope Industrial Technology Center on the Americus campus.
Approximately 150 full and part-time employees participated in the fundraising drive through payroll deduction donations, bids on silent auction items, or through contributions to the Foundation as part of the internal portion of the TechForce 2016 kickoff drive.
SGTC employees also took part in “Make it Happen at South Georgia Tech” email contests for several weeks leading up to the luncheon and silent auction in order to earn a spot in the luncheon’s “Family Frenzy” game-show.
As part of the luncheon activities, employees played a “Family Frenzy” game which allowed employees to guess the most popular answers to questions submitted in a poll to SGTC employees. The 20 individuals who competed for special prizes in the game show included Tawanna Wright, Coach Travis Garrett, Debra Smith, Chester Taylor, Chef Ricky Watzlowick, Whitney Crisp, April Zimmerman, Gwen Hall, Audra Cook, Kari Bodrey, Craig Kelly, Sandhya Muljibhai, Kelly Everett, Terri Smith, Amanda Barrett, Gloria Bell, Jennifer Childs, Kim Miller, Melissa Grantham, Shonda Bodie, and Charlene Williams.
Thurston Clary of Sumter Broadcasting provided music for the event during the silent auction and luncheon.
Each year, the SGTC Foundation hosts a TechForce drive to raise funds for different programs and projects on the Americus and Crisp County Center campuses. The TechForce 2016 campaign is currently underway. All donations for equipment, scholarships, and textbooks during the SGTC Foundation TechForce 2016 fund drive were matched dollar-for-dollar by the Technical College System of Georgia and through various grants.
This year the foundation’s goal was to raise $150,000 to provide textbooks at no cost to students as well as scholarships for deserving and needy students and purchase state-of-the-art equipment for the college’s new electric power generation program as well as the commercial truck driving and industrial systems technology programs.
“The South Georgia Technical College Foundation is a vital part of our college’s success,” explained SGTC President John Watford, ED.D.  “We appreciate the support that we receive from our employees and from the community through the foundation fund drives. Twenty-eight different programs have benefited directly from the past 16 TechForce drives with additional state-of-the-art equipment. The entire college and community have benefited from the scholarships and the use of free textbooks for students. These donations have also helped with the James Hall and Martin Hall dorm renovations and the renovations to the former DOAS Surplus Building which has been transformed into our general core classroom building as well as the John Deere TECH agricultural technology program. We appreciate the support of our boards, faculty, staff, and community partners.”
The TechForce 2016 fund drive has already gotten off to a good start with the help of employees, business and industry partners, and local supporters who have donated items for the SGTC Foundation Internal TechForce drive, luncheon and silent auction. Each year nearly 100 percent of the SGTC employees contribute to the TechForce drive through payroll deduction or direct donations.
Approximately $500,000 of the nearly $4.2 million raised by the TechForce campaigns over the past 16 years has been donated by SGTC faculty and staff.
Members of the SGTC Foundation and the SGTC board of directors as well as other volunteers made contacts with community leaders asking for support of the fund drive again this year. Postcards and solicitation letters were sent out to community leaders asking for support. SGTC Foundation Trustee and Development Committee chairman John Argo is head of the TechForce 2016 drive for the Foundation.
The TechForce 2016 Internal Committee included Co- chairs David Finley and Vanessa Wall, Valerie Hines, Teresa McCook, James Frey, Victoria Herron, Kyle Hartsfield, Paul Fitzgerald, Matthew Burks, Carrie Wilder, Gail Clary, Minnie Williamson, Beth Brooks, Tami Blount, Shelly Godwin, Andrea Ingram, Michele Seay, Kierra Sparks, Nancy Fitzgerald, Randy Greene, Brenda Butler, Eulish Kinchens, and Karen Bloodworth.
For more information about the TechForce 2016 fund drive or to make a donation to the Foundation, contact SGTC Foundation Executive Director and SGTC Vice President of Institutional Advancement Su Ann Bird at 229.931.2110 or sbird@southgatech.edu