The 2012 United Way of Kosciusko County Campaign was started with a number of Pacesetters: Grace College & Seminary, Lake City Bank, Maple Leaf Farms, Martin’s Super Market and Orange Door Dental Group.
This group of businesses agreed to hold their campaign early and allow UWKC to use their results to motivate and encourage participants to strive for growth.
The Pacesetters’ internal campaigns each presented an increase in total dollars given to the United Way.
Grace College employees contributed through the campaign and held a special event/luncheon to promote United Way. They focused on increasing their employee participation by 10 percent. After running a very successful campaign they increased their employee participation by 42 percent.
Lake City Bank ran an employee campaign emphasizing the importance of giving back to the community and increasing employee participation. They brought in a special guest speaker, Richard Picciotto, FDNY Battalion Commander. Picciotto shared his story of survival and escape from the World Trade Center on September 11.
Through events, group meetings and prizes they saw their largest increase to date of 17 percent during this year’s campaign.
“Maple Leaf Farms was proud to serve as a Pacesetter for the 2012 United Way campaign,” said Co-President John Tucker. “We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and generosity our staff showed in helping us raise more than $20,000 for United Way.”
Maple Leaf Farms showed a 52 percent increase over last year’s dollars raised.
This is the second year for Martin’s Super Market to participate in the campaign in Kosciusko County. Their employees were asked to give through payroll deduction. Once again their employees gave generously to increase the donation by more than $2,500.
Orange Door Dental Group was a first-time contributor. They held an employee meeting to discuss the importance of giving back and getting their employees involved. They ran a very successful campaign with 95 percent employee participation.
As a group the companies that Kosciusko County called United Way Pacesetters were able to pledge close to $101,397 to the local United Way. This will assist the organization in reaching the $2,180,000 campaign goal and is also a motivation for other businesses in Kosciusko County. The $24,808 increase will help move the United Way of Kosciusko County closer to their available $202,232 through the INvest1213 grant.
For more information about contributing in the 2012 campaign or on the INvest1213 grant, visit www.unitedwaykosciusko.org
