United Way campaigns go “way back”….and originally was designed to allow employees to give a portion of their regular paycheck to charities in the communities in which they worked. Not much has changed over these 50 years here in Shasta County, and throughout our 9 county area….this is still the essence of our program to allow folks to ‘give to the United Way”.
This year, we “officially” kicked off the 2011-2012 Campaign with our Extreme Health Weekend on October 1st. Traditionally the campaign is in the fall and usually in the last quarter of the year, so this worked well for us. The campaign is conducted by our office in Redding and goes into all of the communities in our 9 counties..in that we make contact and then presentations to employees and employee groups. Last week, for example, we made a presentation to the US Postal Service, the combined meeting of the Rotary and Kiwanis in Red Bluff, and then to Roseburg Lumber in Weed, CA in the Siskiyou’s. Today we are at the US Marine Reserve unit in Chico, and next week we will be in Susanville at the prisons and various businesses talking to staff and employees in both of these differing workplaces.
Once we made the presentations, then employees can “pledge” an amount to come out of their paychecks…from $1 up…and these monies are then received in the coming year. After a small admin fee, these contributions are then allocated out to the member agencies, of which we have 51 in the North State that make up the United Way of Northern California. These agencies range from the more common Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to the local “People of Progress” for the homeless and other needy in the Redding area. The income from the various donors go to meet the “basic needs of the community”.
So, as you hear that we are coming around to “tell our story”…..just know that your gift, regardless of how much, will make a big difference in the lives of thousands….and it is our job to see that your gifts are doing the most good that they can do.
Thanks, in advance.
