United Way of Greenville County Sets 2008 Community Campaign Goal
United Way volunteer leadership have set the goal for the 2008 United Way of Greenville County campaign. The Board of Trustees approved a goal of $15,000,000, which represents an ambitious $500,000 increase over the $14.5 million raised during the 2007 campaign. Campaign Chairman Judy Alexander, of Dixon Hughes, and Campaign Vice Chairman Howard Boyd, of Gallivan White & Boyd, are leading this year’s campaign.
“Today, we recognize members of our community are dealing with the additional financial strain caused by—among other things—increased fuel and food costs,” said Alexander. “As these costs of living rise, we ask members of our community to not lose sight of the fact that they hit the agencies and the individuals they serve just as hard, or perhaps even harder, than they hit the rest of us. So many individuals, families and neighborhoods are dealing with tremendous challenges every day that they can’t overcome without the much-needed, critical assistance provided by the programs United Way contributions support.”
“Truthfully, we are not sure how big a bump in the road there is going to be for the campaign,” continued Alexander. “However, after much thought and planning, the Campaign Cabinet decided that United Way should strive for a stretch goal that challenges us to raise as much money as possible in a time when many in our community may need us most.”
“Meeting and exceeding this year’s goal is as important as it has ever been,” said Boyd. “Need has no sense of time or place. Reaching out to people who have immediate, basic needs—like shelter or a meal for a homeless family—is vital. United Way will never walk away from that responsibility. Supporting programs which work within the critical areas of Children, Families, Health, Youth and Crisis provides an important foundation for a caring community.”
“Through United Way we can do even more because we also address the bigger, deeper issues,” added Alexander. “For instance, what are the root causes that leave a family homeless? United Way is committed to investing more time and resources on these bigger challenges. The goal is to advance the common good for our community by improving issues like school readiness, high school graduation rates, access to quality health/dental care, and the availability of affordable workforce housing for families. Getting results in these key issues positively impact all of us.”
The 2008 Campaign Kickoff will take place at the Carolina First Center on September 4th. The Keynote Speaker will be Oliver Purnell, Head Coach of Clemson University’s Men’s Basketball team. Also at Kickoff, the results of 23 Pacesetter company campaigns will be announced. These Pacesetter companies have agreed to run their campaigns early, effectively getting the campaign off to a running start and challenging other companies to join with them to make this year’s campaign successful.
The 2008 community campaign will run through November 10th. If you or your company is interested in learning more about how to participate, please contact United Way of Greenville County at (864) 467-3333.
