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United Way kicks it up a big notch
By Patrick Graham
The Paris News
Published October 30, 2009
Wow!
That was the reaction when the total for this year’s United Way of Lamar County fundraising campaign was announced Friday morning.
And with good reason.
This year’s campaign set a new record, chairman Rudy Kessel announced during the campaign’s final report meeting, coming in at $628,268 in pledges, beating the campaign’s $475,000 goal by more than 132 percent.
By comparison, last year’s campaign totaled $500,440.15 at the last report meeting and the biggest number prior to this year was approximately $577,000 recorded several years ago, Kessel said.
“I can’t express enough my thanks to all of you guys for all of your hard work on this year’s campaign,” Kessel told a room full of volunteers gathered at the Children’s Advocacy Center, a United Way agency, to hear the final totals.
The generosity of local industry, which typically generates the majority of the pledges during any given United Way campaign, was on full display again at the report meeting.
The Industry Division, chaired by Kenny Daus, surpassed this year’s total campaign goal on its own, coming in at $488,031 or 152.5 percent of its $320,000 goal.
Daus praised both the industry employees who gave to the United Way and the corporate support that helped increase the giving power of their pledges.
“Corporate gifts don’t just happen,” he said. “It takes the people here putting forth the effort to help the community and then corporate saying we appreciate your concern for the community so we are going to chip in.”
Kimberly-Clark finished with the single largest campaign, generating $142,000 in pledges. Turner Industries followed closely with $140,288 in campaign pledges. Sara Lee reported $79,318 in pledges for United Way, again followed closely by Campbell Soup, which reported $77,000 in pledges.
All of these industry campaigns came in over their respective goals, Daus said.
“I travel around to a lot of different United Ways to see what they are doing,” United Way president Robert High said. “And I tell you we are the envy of these other United Ways who cannot believe how much money we are able to raise in a community this size, with about 25,000 in the city and about 50,000 in the county.”
He also told the volunteers, “This community is to be commended for the generosity it shows, and you are to be commended for what you do for the community.”
The Commercial Division raised $66,485.10 in pledges, chair Patrick Graham announced, equaling 102.28 percent of the division’s $65,000 goal. At this time last year the division was at approximately 76 percent of goal.
The Schools Division beat its goal with $29,727 in pledges, which is 102.5 percent of the division’s $29,000 goal. The division’s chairs are Kelly Pickle, Kenneth Webb and Leslie Watson.
The Small Business Division reported a total of $22,930 in pledges, which is 104.62 percent of its goal. Stephen Gerrald is the division chairman. The division actually reached its goal last week.
The Professional Division raised $8,750 in pledges, far exceeding last year’s total, or 58.33 percent of the division’s $15,000 goal. Dr. Bob Phillips and Stephen Walker chair the division.
The Mail Contact Division raised $8,479 in pledges, which is 47.1 percent of the division’s $18,000 goal. Vic Ressler is the chair.
The Government Division finished at $3,866 or 55.3 percent of its goal. Judge Chuck Superville is the division chair.
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