2000 Campaign Highlights
Under the dedicated leadership of Campaign Chair Margie Weiler, of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, United Way exceeded its original 2000-campaign goal of $1.475 million by raising over $1.510 million for our neighbors in need in the Greater Williamsburg community. This represents an $85,000 (6%) increase over the 1999 campaign.
Nineteen Pacesetter companies/organizations raised over $580,000 (an increase of approximately $63,000 - 12% over the 1999 Pacesetter campaign) preceding the September campaign kick-off. These businesses not only "set the pace" for our community, they were instrumental in the success of the United Way campaign and were led by Pacesetter Chair Bernie Ngo of SunTrust Bank.
The 2000-Day of Caring and Campaign Kick-off was held on September 6th. Under the direction of Day of Caring Chair Virginia Hartmann of Williamsburg Soap & Candle Co., the ninth annual Day of Caring brought over 800 volunteers together on 46 community service projects throughout the Greater Williamsburg area.
United Way successfully acquired 8 loaned executives in 2000. These dedicated individuals are loaned from local employers for a minimum of three days a week (August - November) to assist the United Way in raising funds for the annual campaign. Thanks to the businesses who support the Loaned Executive program, United Way continues to keep fundraising and administrative costs to a minimum.
Throughout the campaign, United Way benefited from increased employee and corporate gifts from many local organizations. Other 2000 campaign highlights include:
The Resource Development Committee, headed by Bill Voliva of Kingsmill, began work in early spring and identified 14 accounts with high potential. Their work led to approximately $67,000 in new corporate/employee contributions. Since the inception of this committee in 1999, the committee has raised a total of $122,000 in new money to United Way.
Our citizens/residential division co-chaired by Bob and Donna Magoon surpassed last year's division total by 9% raising approximately $240,000 (a record high for this division) and adding over 12 new neighborhoods to the division.
Ukrop's incorporated a dollar for dollar corporate match of their employee's donations, raising a combined total of over $30,000 this year.
New accounts, such as the new Wal-Mart Distribution Center and its employees raised over $40,000 before officially opening their new location. In addition, Wal-Mart employees repainted rooms and landscaped the Salvation Army's transitional apartments during Day of Caring.
In an ongoing effort to update the United Way campaign database, approximately 8000 new accounts were added and over 1000 inactive accounts were eliminated to insure accurate campaign records.
The theme of our record-breaking campaign, Caring Hearts Build Hope, was evident throughout the entire campaign - from the dedicated volunteers, loaned executives, businesses, and individuals in our community who gave so generously to their neighbors in need. Thank you for helping to continue the United Way of Greater Williamsburg's tradition of caring.