Friday Follow Up, 4/30/2010
Hope you are ready for a beautiful weekend. We had a busy but great couple of weeks here at United Way.
We are pleased to welcome Meghan Waldeck to our staff as the Public Affairs Manager working with Erin Kelly. Meghan is a 2007 graduate of the College of William and Mary in Virginia. She has spent the last 3 years coordinating marketing and communications in the fitness and digital printing industries in Center City Philadelphia and is excited to learn and grow with us at United Way. Meghan has an extreme passion for nutrition, fitness, writing and traveling.
We are also pleased to announce that we have filled the final Campaign Account Manager position. Elena Quattrone will join us on the weekend of May 16 for the Celebrity Golf Challenge to provide staff support. Elena is a recent graduate from Boston University with a Master’s Degree in Public Health. In addition to her campaign responsibilities, she will also be assisting on the Healthy Kids Initiative. I am pleased to welcome a fellow Bostonian to the team!
Campaign projections are holding steady. We still have six spots at the United Way table for the Walter Rand Institute Scholarship and Awards Dinner hosted by our Board Member Wendell Pritchett. The event is at the Rutgers Student Center on Friday, May 7. Please contact Roberta asap if you are able to attend.
Enjoy the sun!
Mike
Comcast LIVING UNITED
Comcast held their “Comcast Cares Day” all across the tri-state area on Saturday, April 24. There were 4,360 volunteers at 33 sites from Comcast and their community partners. Projects included a park clean up in New Castle County, DE, construction of a playground in Haverford, PA and beach clean-ups a New Jersey shore towns. Christina Wyse AVP, Resource Development, and her 7-year old granddaughter, Sophia packed up their gardening tools, gloves, and wheel barrels and headed into Camden early Saturday morning to assist in landscaping some business areas. Comcast bought a large variety of beautiful, low maintenance plants and a whole lot of mulch to “spruce up” Camden. Christina and Sophia were in front of a convenience store and so many patrons commented on how nice it looked and what a great job the workers were doing. Comcast was on hand to make sure everyone stayed hydrated and provided lunch at 3 local restaurants.
SUMMER CAMP GRANTS
We received 18 applications for funding under the United Way Jaws Youth Fund Summer Camp Program as of our deadline of Monday, April 26, 2010. Grants generally range from $3,000 – $8,000 to high quality programs that help at-risk youth achieve success. Over the course of next couple of weeks, United Way Staff will work together with the Jaworski Family on identifying the strongest recipients for the Summer 2010 with the available funding.
EMERGENCY FOOD AND SHELTER PROGRAM
We just received word that the Emergency Food and Shelter Program has awarded an additional $17,923 to Camden County for our emergency feeding programs. This is in addition to the $374,718 that has been awarded to local programs. A process will begin shortly to identify how these new funds will be allocated. Current grantees include: AIDS Coalition of Southern NJ,The Cathedral Soup Kitchen, The Food Bank of South Jersey, The Neighborhood Center, New Visions Community Services, Salvation Army, Camden Corp, Samost Jewish Family and Children’s Services and Senior Citizens United Community Service.
Friday Follow Up, 4/9/10
We are looking forward to the next round of strategic planning meetings in the upcoming week. Our consultant Gershon Mader will join us to facilitate the sharing, learning and idea generation. I thank everyone who has agreed to serve on the committees. If anyone has interest in joining the groups, shoot me an email. We’d love to have you. The meetings will be held at the UWCC offices, and the schedule is below:
Wednesday, April 14
Resource Development, 8-11am
Community Impact, 1-4pm
Thursday April 15
Regional Consolidation, 8-11am
Emerging Leaders, 1-4pm
We are wrapping up the 2009 campaign clean up while feverishly planning for the upcoming campaign. Our Resource Development team is on the phones, investigating outstanding card value. Our new campaigner Abby Hickerson and our AVP of Resource Development Christina Wyse have proven quickly to be a very energetic and compatible duo. Christina and Abby are interacting with early running campaigns especially in the retail unit. Target Stores are preparing to kick off on June 1st.
Our accounting team is also hard at work ensuring our data is accurate as we enter the new season. This week alone we have processed nearly $100K. The majority of these pledges are for companies that have locations here but are reported to us from their corporate headquarters, another United Way or United Way Worldwide. They also represent large corporate contributions from companies that traditionally report during the 2nd quarter of the calendar year such as Comcast, PSE&G, J&J Snack Foods, etc. We have 100% confidence that we will gain the appropriate documentation necessary from these generous supporters well in advance of our budgeting deadline. Currently we have processed $3.8 million towards our projected final amount of $4.4 million. And we are climbing each day.
Work continues to proceed on the 2010 Campaign. We are nearly completed with the recruitment of the Campaign Cabinet. Thank you to all who have joined the team and thanks to Mindy Holman for assisting with the recruitment of ARI executive Bill Kwelty to serve as Unit Chair of Business Services. Once fully recruited, we will publish a full listing of what is shaping up to be a standout cabinet.
We are also in development stages of all campaign collateral, including our CEO Case Statement, Campaign Coordinator Manual, Annual Report, Leadership Giving Recognition Brochure and all the necessary pledge forms we need to run a successful campaign.
Enjoy the awesome weather this weekend!
Mike
Friday Follow Up, 3/26/2010
At last week’s Community Leader’s Conference, United Way Worldwide honored Kellogg Company with its highest national award in honor of innovative actions the company and its employees took to improve lives and local communities.
“Kellogg Company and its employees have clearly demonstrated their commitment to improving lives by going far beyond just running a campaign. They’ve stepped up with increased product donations, volunteerism, social media outreach, cause marketing and even economic revitalization efforts in their headquarter city,” said Brian Gallagher, president and CEO of United Way Worldwide.
Kellogg Company’s $5.9 million campaign pledge in 2009 was 19% over goal. Kellogg also stepped up with an incremental $600,000 grant to United Way of Greater Battle Creek to address increased basic health and income needs in the Company’s headquarters hometown. Among other outcomes, this grant provided 20 pounds of fresh vegetables weekly to nearly 2,000 people. Further, Kellogg employees across the U.S. held more than 45 food drives that collected more than 47,000 pounds of food. In fact, Kellogg has donated more than 94 million pounds of food, or 66 million meals, over the past five years.
In 2009, Kellogg was the first to produce food solely for donation, donating an entire day’s worth of cereal production (3.7 million pounds) to Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization. The Company’s innovation continued in a celebrity partnership with Katalyst, a social media studio co-founded by Ashton Kutcher. Kellogg teamed up with Katalyst to spotlight the issue through an innovative online video created with user-generated content and directed by Demi Moore to raise awareness that one out of every eight Americans struggle with hunger.
Kellogg went beyond food donations, spearheading a downtown revitalization effort in Battle Creek, including the expansion of its global nutrition research facility, as well as committing to move more employees downtown, donating a building for potential use as a math and science education center, and partnering with various organizations to bring new businesses and jobs to the community.
Friday Follow Up, 3/12/2010
Headquartered in Collingswood, NJ, Volunteers of America of the Delaware Valley(VOADV) have been a moving force in our community since 1896. VOADV serves more than 400 communities throughout the nation by providing professional human care services to more than two million people each year. Here are 5 ways VOADV are inspiring hope in our communities:
1.VOADV currently operates over 40 programs serving people in need of housing and supportive services, behavioral health, developmental disabilities, corrections services, domestic violence programs, and volunteer services. These services change the lives of over 10,000 people each year with the help of over 800 volunteers.
2. Under Construction
VOADV is currently transforming a Camden warehouse into Camden’s first first inpatient drug treatment center addressing the lack of extended treatment in the city…. To read more CLICK HERE!
UWCC Staff Living United If you happen to drive down Federal Street & River Road in Camden, don’t forget to look up! UWCC staff member Linda Huff is featured on the Cramer Hill Community Development Billboard. Linda is a star volunteer of Cramer Hill’s VITA(Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) Center, giving her time and talent to help prepare taxes for families earning less than $42,000 a year. Huff discovered the program when sitting in on a United Way meeting with Cramer Hill Community Center, “They were discussing the tax program and I thought it would be a great way to use my education to volunteer in the community,” stated Huff. The VITA program is open Mondays & Wednesdays 3:30-8pm and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm.
Friday Follow Up, 3/5/2010
Agency Spotlight- Urban Promise
Urban Promise was founded in 1988 with the mission of equipping Camden’s children and young adults with the skills necessary for academic achievement, life management, spiritual growth and Christian Leadership. The UrbanPromise community seeks to fulfill this mission through after school programs, summer camps, alternative schools, job training initiatives and a host of other programs that challenge youth to develop their academic, social, creative, spiritual and leadership potential. Check out these 5 ways UrbanPromise is Building a city of promise one child at a time…
Games That Give
Ever find yourself relaxing after a hard day at work by playing an online game of Solitaire? Or jumping onto a games site while you’re waiting on hold for a customer service rep? Now you can ward off boredom or relieve stress and support United Way at the same time – with GamesThatGive.net.You Play. They Donate. No Catch. Sign up to play your favorite games – from Sudoku to Bubble Burst to the classic boredom beater Solitaire and many more for free and GamesThatGive will pass on 70% of its ad revenues to United Way and the other charities it supports. Bonus Round: when your boss asks you what your doing, you can let him know you’re helping United Way advance the common good throughout our communities
Friday Follow Up, 2/16/10
UNITED WAY’S ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK
Agency Spotlight- Hopeworks N’ Camden
FRIDAY FOLLOW UP, 2/5/2010
NFL COMMUNITY BLITZ
After Pro Bowl practice on Thursday January 28, players and coaches teamed up with the Monday Night Football Crewand Bank of America community champions to volunteer in the first-ever “NFL PLAY 60 Community Blitz”. Volunteers spent their afternoon working on projects geared towards encouraging healthy and active lifestyles for the children of South Florida communities. Projects were coordinated by the United Way and NFL Play 60, a national program working to fight childhood obesity by focusing on 60 minutes of play each day.
Our very own Jaws teamed up with Jon Gruden, Mike Tirico and NFL players at RISE Academy School of Science and Technology, a free public charter elementary school. They were joined by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. The Pro Bowl team worked to construct a customized playground to promote physical activity at a school which is currently without a gym or play area.
AGENCY SPOTLIGHT- THE BRIDGE
January 26, 2010 UW staff conducted the first online survey, asking you; our stakeholders how we can improve the Friday Follow Up. 75 survey invitations were sent out, 41 people opened the survey, and 14 completed the survey. Questions ranged from frequency of the Friday Follow Up to story quality and topic. Judging by our results, we will be incorporating more agency outcome pieces into our weekly updates. Be sure to check out our website for weekly Agency Spotlights & Agency Highlights. The survey will remain open until 4pm Monday, February, 8th. Thank you to those who participated. Your feedback helps us continue to deliver engaging articles and results to your inbox.
Friday Follow UP: Special Message from CEO Mike Moynihan 1/15/10
Dear Friends:
As you know, Tuesday afternoon, January 12, our world witnessed a devastating earthquake– 7.0 in magnitude. It struck less than ten miles from the Caribbean city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The initial quake was later followed by twelve aftershocks greater than magnitude 5.0. Structures of all kinds were damaged or collapsed, from shantytown homes to national landmarks. It is still very early in the recovery effort, but millions are likely displaced, and thousands are feared dead as rescue teams from all over the world are now descending on Haiti to help where they are able.
United Way Worldwide’s role is to support recovery efforts to rebuild lives and infrastructure and to help residents address educational, financial and health-related challenges. The leaders of our movement will work with teams from around the world to identify the most pressing long-term recovery needs. Examples may include access to health care, rebuilding schools and housing, and meeting critical basic needs for shelter, food and clothing.
Financial donations to the United Way Worldwide Disaster Fund will assist these communities and the people whose lives have been devastated by the earthquake. Financial donations can be made to the Fund online at: www.liveunited.org, or by phone at 1-866-404-5826. Questions about the Fund can be directed to this toll-free number. People can give a $5 donation by texting HAITI to 864833 (UNITED). Standard text messaging rates apply. Checks can be made out to United Way and mailed to United Way Worldwide, P.O. Box 630568, Baltimore, MD 21263-0568. The memo line should include “United Way Disaster Recovery Fund.” 95% of every contribution goes directly toward long-term recovery work.
United Way Worldwide is also coordinating with VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster), which is taking the lead in assessing needs and opportunities in Haiti. Unsolicited donations of goods and services from individuals and community groups, though well intentioned, have hidden costs and pose a number of complications for recovery efforts. United Way Worldwide is unable to accept such donations at this time. Should anyone be interested in donating goods and services, you can contact AidMatrix Network: www.aidmatrix.org, or call 1-469-357-3185.
This crisis is the perfect example of how the formation of United Way Worldwide positions our movement to make a measureable imapct around the world. With your support, we will continue to strive to make our impact in Camden County while supporting the efforts of our colleagues around the globe.
Mike
Friday Follow Up 1/8/10
TARGET TREES
Target Stores made the holiday season a little brighter for 3,400 families across the country. Christina Wyse championed the effort to distribute holiday trees to seven lucky families in Camden County. These top-of-the-line display trees were fully decorated and valued at $650 each. Click on the link below to visit our blog to see more photos.
http://www.liveunitedcamdenco.org/uwc/?cat=21
VOTE FOR HAMMER
Dave “The Hammer” Schultz Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Famer and Broad Street Bully has been nominated to become the commissioner for this year’s Philadelphia Wing Bowl. Hank Fraley is in the lead, but with a little help, that could easily change. Please click on the link below or copy and paste to vote for our buddy Dave (under the count down on the right of the page).
Feel free to forward this to friends, family and Flyers fans. Every little bit helps.
http://www.610wip.com/Wingbowl-18-Headquarters/5791083
Friday Follow Up 12/11/09
WAY TO GO DRPA-PATCO!
2008 Employee DRPA Results $82,813
2009 Employee DRPA Results $89,156
2008 Employee PATCO Results $116,487
2009 Employee PATCO Results $119,026
ALLIANCE ROCK-TEN COMPANY
2008 Employee Results $18,145
2009 Employee Results $15,178
2008 Corporate Results $9,073
2009 Corporate Results $7,589
FLYERS AT FENWAY PROMOTION
Spread the word about our icy-cool promotion! Sadly, board members and staff are not eligible, but their friends are. The Winter Classic Getaway raffle includes two tickets to the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Boston Bruins game at Fenway Park on New Year’s Day, 2010. The package also includes two train tickets and a two-night hotel stay at the Back Bay Sheridan in Boston, MA. One chance to win is $20, and a hatrick (three chances) is $50. To get your chances, call 856-963-2720, ext. 1, between the hours of 1:00pm-5:00pm weekdays until December 15. The drawing will take place on December 17, and the winner will be invited to the Flyers game on December 21 to receive their prize package.
http://www.liveunitedcamdenco.org/uwc/?cat=21
