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November 30, 2009

United Way halfway to goal of $425,000

Toni Hopper

DUNCAN — United Way of Stephens County is at its halfway mark for its goal of $425,000, Executive Director Elizabeth Flanders Pitts said Monday.

She’s hopeful the agency meets its campaign goal for fundraising even though the economy has been lagging. She said the goal set is the same as last year, but the agency did not meet it in 2008.

“We finished $30,000 down last year. We’re really hoping for a bit of increase. Last year we raised $393,000,” Pitts said. “I’d like to come close and I’d like to make our goal. The economy is what it is, but it’s not like Christians Concerned or other groups are getting fewer phone calls. The goal hasn’t decreased, as the need hasn’t decreased.”

Reports haven’t come in from the three biggest contributors, Pitts said. Those are Halliburton, Duncan Regional Hospital and Duncan Public School District.

“I know 50 percent doesn’t sound like a lot, but we don’t have all the numbers yet and those three have excellent employee participation. We should get the results in the next couple of weeks.”

Yet, one major contributor this year, brought in a surprise for the campaign.

“Family Dollar, it had an increase 10 percent over (contributions) last year,” Pitts said. “That’s just employee contributions from payroll deductions. I think if Family Dollar has an increase in employee contributions, that’s something great to be said about that. Those are employees who feel United Way is important to our community.”

The Family Dollar corporate donation hasn’t been reported yet, she said.

When the United Way fundraising campaign began, a blackout period prevents any agencies from conducting fundraising. Pitts said that officially ended at the beginning of November and now many of those agencies are promoting their own fundraising projects. United Way is also working on two upcoming events — one is for New Year’s Eve and the other is a ladies’ luncheon.

One of the reasons for having more fundraisers is because United Way directors are aware many local companies have fewer employees, which would result in fewer employee contributions.

Pitts also noted that because there are many organizations in the county that need volunteers, United Way changed its format and did more mailout requests than in year’s past.

“We didn’t have as many volunteers. That was a change for us that was beneficial to us. We wanted to respect our volunteers time. It really has been very successful,” Pitts said.

She said it is encouraged to get pledge cards submitted by Dec. 31. United Way’s annual meeting is held the third week in January, she said.

Pitts said it’s also good to note that the Power Shop, which is a United Way associate agency, has been sufficient enough it doesn’t receive funding.

“They have gotten to the point after so many years of growing and being a United Way agency, they no longer require funding,” Pitts said. “So it’s really very neat to see how far they’ve come.”

Two other new associate agencies came on board this year, Red Cross and Camp Fire. Those two, along with Power Shop, receive technical support and marketing support from UW.



— Toni Hopper is a reporter for The Duncan Banner. She can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 132 or by e-mail at: toni.hopper@duncanbanner.com.

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