The 2000 United Way Annual Campaign at Grand Valley is underway. Campaign coordinators, who represent various GVSU departments, will ask their colleagues to contribute to the United Way this week.
Last year, GVSU faculty and staff members, retirees and students contributed $104,550.92, over 5.4 percent more than in the previous year. More than 68 percent of full-time employees contributed to the campaign.
One thing that stands out about last year's campaign, says Tim Sullivan, payroll manager and United Way treasurer, was that, again, we had an increase in the number of employees and we still had an increase in percentage of contributors. That means people who donated to United Way increased their contributions and the new faculty and staff members also joined in. Our numbers continue to go up. More departments are striving to achieve a 100 percent participation rate.
Sullivan, who is going into his second year as treasurer, says he has been impressed by the United Way administration. I feel confident that when you make a contribution to United Way, it goes where you want it to go, and the allocation committee does a good job of making sure that people are being helped, he says.
Each year the Grand Valley community has generously invested in United Way, said campaign co-chair Jean Enright. Our gifts make it possible for United Way to support health and human service agencies that make a difference in our own communities.
John Arnold, executive director of Second Harvest Gleaners, was the speaker at the breakfast. He explained the importance of United Way donations to area agencies.
Since opening in 1981, Second Harvest has become one of the nation's largest food banks, ranking 18th out of 190; it has increased its distribution of food from less than 1 million pounds a year to more than 14 million pounds last year; and it has pioneered the concept of using former beer and soft drink trucks as mobile food pantries, permitting the distribution of food in areas where there are no fixed-site food pantries.
