News

By Susan Miller, Missourian Staff Writer

Calling it a roller coaster of a campaign, Franklin County Area United Way officials reported this week it has set a new record despite "very tough" economic times.
Gifts and pledges for the 2008 drive total $898,528 - an almost 10 percent increase over last year's attainment of $817,036. This year's goal was $840,000.
The campaign kicked off the first week of September and concluded Oct. 31. It is the single largest annual fundraiser in the county.
Companies, individuals and organizations pulled together and made an all-out effort to not only reach, but surpass the goal, said Sandy Anderson, United Way campaign chairman.
"We were very hopeful, but we truly didn't know until the very end if we would reach the goal," Anderson said. "We can't say thank you enough to the community."
United Way Board President Ken Schmidt said the campaign had a lot of obstacles to overcome with skyrocketing gas prices, a slumping housing market and overall economic downturn.
"Despite these tough economic times, the community showed it was willing to help others to make it a better place for all of us," Schmidt said.
The top two corporate contributors to the campaign again this year are AmerenUE, which brought in a total of $86,745, and the Bank of Washington, which raised $67,506.
Paula Obermark, United Way executive director, said the campaign got off to a great start with the five pilot companies - Bank of Sullivan, Four Rivers Area YMCA, Henniges Automotive, Meramec Valley School District and Warco - raising a combined total of $47,134.
"But then things kind of came to a stop in the last four weeks due to the economy and we were all holding our breath," she said. "This is one of the worst economic times we've had to contend with during our campaign. There's just so much uncertainty there and it's something we had to work hard to overcome."
Obermark said 11 of the Top 30 corporate donors were down this year and several educational institutions reported decreases as well.
"But we had a great last week and that really pushed us over," she said. "One of the difficulties of predicting exactly where we stood was that many of our companies held their in-house campaigns the last week of October and couldn't report numbers until the first week of November."
Despite the drops reported by some companies, Obermark said, others reported "incredible" increases, such as Warco, Bank of Sullivan, Henniges Automotive, Meramec Valley School District, Wachovia and U.S. Bank.
Special events put on during the campaign also helped boost the final number, including a golf tournament, which raised $18,000, and several Power of the Purse auctions, which brought in over $14,000.
Schmidt thanked the United Way board of directors and staff for their hard work during the campaign.
"Our board is very active and did a lot of leg-work for the drive," he said. "John Trentmann, our campaign representative, also was a huge help."
But the biggest thanks, Schmidt said, goes to the community at large for its continued support and belief in the United Way which supports 40 agencies and programs serving people in 35 neighboring communities.
"We were not only able to reach our goal, but also the greater goal of caring for each other," Anderson said.

The Franklin County Area United Way held the annual Door to Door drive in Washington on Sept. 24th. This annual drive is conducted in city limits of Washington and the subdivision just outside the city limits. The United Way encourages "Constructing a Better Today" that builds better communities.
175 students from Washington High School and St. Francis Borgia Regional High School participated in the drive. This year's events brought in $6,737 which is down 13% from last year. Additional funds will continue to come in as a result of the drive.
The 40 agencies and programs supported by the United Way served over 44,000 people last year. The door to door drive in Washington plays an important role in not only raising money for the campaign, but also building community awareness about the United Way.
A special thank you to all the drivers and student volunteers who made this event such a wonderful success.

Compliments of the Washington Missourian.

Corporate and individual contributors to the United Way are "constructing a better today" for the community at large, Board President Ken Schmidt said Thursday morning at a kick-off breakfast for the 2008 drive.
United Way officials announced a goal of $840,000 to representatives of the Top 30 corporate donors, the five pilot companies spearheading the campaign, emerging companies, leadership givers and agencies.
Last year, the target was $775,000 and the campaign raised $ $817,036 - an all-time record.
Playing on the construction theme, Schmidt and Campaign Chairman Sandy Anderson unrolled a blueprint with the goal in big letters.
Prior to that, representatives of the pilot companies - Bank of Sullivan, Henniges, Warco, Meramec Valley School District and Four Rivers Area YMCA - each placed a brick on a table to symbolize the foundation to the annual campaign.
Then everyone present was asked to put a brick in place, showing their commitment in building a better community. About 60 people turned out for the program held in the East Central College theater.
"What a spectacular sight," Anderson said after the brick wall went up.
"This wall represents the strength of Franklin County and the determination of its citizens to help those around them," she said. "The need is there and we need your help. This will be a particularly tough year because of plant closings, gas prices and the economy. We are asking each one of you to invest in the United Way."
Anderson encouraged companies to hold an employee campaign with payroll deduction or offering special incentives to get better participation.
The campaign officially gets under way Sept. 2 and runs through October. However, the five pilot companies will kick off their drives this week.
"Your kindness and generosity will not only help those in need, but will influence the lives and decisions of everyone around you," Anderson said. "Remember no gift is too small. Every gift makes a difference."
The new campaign video also was shown which highlights four of the 40 United Way agencies - Community Response for Children, Literacy Council, Sheltered Industries and a combination of service agencies who work with children, like the summer day camp, Scouts, FFA and 4-H.
Two guest speakers were Becky Cox, membership and marketing director for the Four Rivers Area YMCA, a United Way agency, along with Michelle Villmer, physical director, who talked about their organization and the importance of United Way funding in carrying out their mission.
Cox said United Way dollars allow the YMCA to fulfill its mission of serving all people regardless of physical, mental or financial hardships by offering scholarships.
In 2007, the YMCA offered scholarships to 380 families and is on the path to support even more this year, she said. She noted that of the 140 youngsters who participated in the Y's summer day camp, one-third received some type of financial assistance.
"None of this would be possible without the United Way," Cox said, adding that YMCA also partners with other United Way agencies and many of their clients utilize the Y's facilities and programs.
Villmer read letters from YMCA members thanking them for the scholarships and detailing how being a member has helped them both physically and emotionally.
The United Way board of directors and staff also were announced at the program.

The faculty and students at Four Rivers Career Center, along with local agencies and businesses came together to change the life of a local teenager. Branden Trentmann, a 17 year old student at New Haven High School, had the door to the world opened for him. Branden was born with caudal regression syndrome, which is a rare congenital birth defect, that requires him to walk with crutches. The idea for this project originated as Branden was enrolling in classes for his senior year of high school. He was dealing with obstacles of how he would be able to get to and from the Career Center to take drafting and design classes. The Four Rivers Career Center placement director, Randy Kosark, proposed the idea of the students and faculty working together to make a car that would be handicapped-accessible for Branden. Through much hard work of the students and staff as well as the donations made by multiple organizations, including the United Way, Branden was presented with the keys to his car. Branden will now not only have the opportunity to attend his classes at the Career Center, but he hopes to attend East Central College and Linn State Technical College, where he hopes to study drafting and architecture.

The Power of the Purse event is a chance for the area's finest women to learn and lend their support to the many services the United Way offers. This is the fourth year for the women's initiative. The first event was held on March 15th at Hillermanns Nursery and Florist in Washington. The evening featured shopping, floral demonstrations, a silent purse auction, appetizers and wine. The second event was held on March 27th at Robller Vineyard and Winery in New Haven, which also featured a silent purse auction as well as desserts, wine and a vintage fashion show presented by Katie Kantley. Events like this really show how dedicated Franklin County citizens are to the United Way's mission of "Building Better Communities". The Franklin County Area United Way served over 42,900 citizens from 35 communities last year.

Page 1 | 2