This round has been expanded to include households outside city limits and to support military families. The gift cards can be used at any participating business in Colleyville, and businesses will be reimbursed by the city.
“We just want to recognize our folks that have served our country during the summer holidays and also do something that can ultimately benefit our Colleyville businesses," Assistant City Manager Adrienne Lothery said.
As with past rounds, cards will be mailed to every household in the city. This time cards will also be mailed to addresses within a one-mile radius of Colleyville’s commercial centers. That includes portions of North Richland Hills, Hurst, Bedford, Southlake, Grapevine and Euless. This will add 12,692 homes to the card circulation, and city officials expect around 5,000 of the cards will be used, according to a May 18 presentation to City Council by Lothery.
If 40% of those households who receive the cards use them, it would add $177,695 to the gift card revenue.
Lothery said the city surveyed businesses at the end of 2020, and many of those businesses requested help attracting new customers. Expanding the gift card program is one way the city has helped with that, she said.
Cards will be mailed out in mid-June and will expire July 31. Colleyville Cares Gift Cards for $50 will also be distributed to Colleyville families.
Those who have an immediate family member actively serving in the military can contact the city at 817-503-1111 to request a card, and they can request that the city send a care package to the service member as well. The city will also work with local houses of worship to distribute $50 cards to families in need.
“I love that we're still doing the Cares Card. Those have meant so much to so many,” Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Lindamood said May 18. “I remember getting so many people that just said, ‘Thank you, you don't realize what that did to help us.’ And my hat's off to the churches and staff that helped deliver those cards to those people.”
The gift card program was first introduced in spring 2020 as a way to support citizens and businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city expanded distribution in January 2021. Those cards were given to schools, medical workers and first responders from nearby cities that have mutual aid agreements with Colleyville. Lothery said that the goal of the expansion was to support vital workers while incentivizing those who serve Colleyville but live outside city limits to visit more Colleyville businesses.
“My favorite anecdotal story from that program was that someone, I think it was a first responder, went into Bear Creek [Spirits & Wine] to use their gift card and buy a bottle of wine, or what have you, and ended up booking an entire wedding event to supply their alcoholic beverage needs,” Lothery said. “All because they went in with our gift card.”
Businesses cashed in more than 9,000 cards, and the city reimbursed those businesses $331,485, according to Lothery’s presentation.
That money came from the city’s tax increment financing fund. The fund, which receives a portion of the city’s commercial property tax revenue, is used to support economic development projects.
