The United Way of Selma and Dallas County is reaping the benefits of holiday spirit.

With just about three weeks remaining in its fundraising campaign, United Way executive director Jeff Cothran said they are approaching last year’s number quickly.

Last year, he said the fundraising campaign collected $300,000. This year, they are currently at $285,000.

In many divisions, Cothran said they have already exceeded last year’s numbers.

“In the commercial division, we are $3,500 over what we did last year,” he said. In fact, of the 10 divisions, we have four that are already above last year’s numbers.”

The jumpstart, he said, has the United Way on a strong pace to possibly exceed 2009.

“We are very hopeful we can exceed last year’s numbers,” he said. “We are off to a good start so far, which is good because the need is so great here.”

Lots of the campaign’s success has come from larger businesses, Cothran said. Many of the larger businesses in Dallas County offer an option for payroll deduction donations from employees. But, Cothran said, size is not a determining factor to participating in payroll deduction.

“Any business can give regardless of the size,,” he said. “We have some businesses on payroll deduction with less than 20 employees. You don’t have to be one of the larger businesses to make a difference.”

Donations are increasingly important to keep community service programs going strong, Cothran said.

“We want to be able to feed people, keep kids in youth athletics and give people a safe place to go if they are in a situation where there is domestic violence,” he said. “We can make a huge difference in the lives of people who really need it.”

Programs like the Doc in a Bus, which is held twice a month, drew 22 visitors at the last clinic. Cothran said without support from the community it would be difficult to provide the level of service they currently provide.

Donations usually skyrocket closer to the end of the year, Cothran said. But he encouraged people not to wait until the last minute.

“We normally get a lot of them in there toward the end and that is great,” he said. “But, the sooner we can get them and get it tallied up the better.”