Living United

So little time, but such a big impact!

It took five minutes.

Kim had written a public service announcement (PSA), and asked me to record it. I adapted it for two voices, thinking that as long as Jay James would be sitting there recording the PSA at WINA, he could read a few lines, too. He’s the professional, after all, the one with The Smooth Radio Voice.

I’d read over the script several times, trying different inflections and different speeds (the spot had to time at just under 60 seconds). On Friday, I made a copy of the script for Jay and headed over to the studios of the Charlottesville Radio Group (WINA AM1070, 97.5FM 3WV, Z95.1FM, and AM1450).

I arrived a few minutes early, so I would have time to get some water and read the script one more time. Moments after I arrived, however, Jay rushed out to greet me. What, no time for vocal exercises? No warm-up? Not even time to stretch?

Jay and I headed back to the booth. I waved at Jane Foy through the window of the studio where she and Rick Daniels were doing the “WINA Morning News with Rick and Jane” show. I love those guys!

In the booth, Jay cranked up the microphones and computer, and glanced over the lines. “Let’s do it!” he shouted, and pointed at me. “Any time, Miss Caroline Emerson from the United Way,” he said, and I blurted out the first line.

The PSA has a serious topic: we’re talking about how your support of the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area helps local people with all kinds of needs, from counseling abused children to assistance with obtaining prescription medication.

Sixty seconds later we were done and listening to it. I asked for a do-over, just to make it a little better. We recorded it again, this time a little cleaner, and that was that.

Even though the PSA was on a serious topic, as always when Jay James is involved, I had fun recording it. Take a moment to listen to it and see if we captured the spirit of giving, advocating, and volunteering for the United Way.

Thank you to Jay James for his ever-cheerful willingness to help the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area. He doesn’t just wear the shirt, he lives it!  And many thanks to the good folks at the Charlottesville Radio Group for their years of support.

Posted by Caroline Emerson.
 

Have you noticed a theme?

Perhaps, like me, you were watching The Biggest Loser last night and you saw the Blue Team contestants leave the gym and enter the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to stuff backpacks for hungry children.  Perhaps you were wondering why they spent time volunteering when they should be working hard to drop those pounds. 

Well, The Biggest Loser is just one of 90 shows on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC that are promoting volunteerism during the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s iParticipate week, October 19-25.  You’ll probably notice the PSA’s, as well as the scripted programming that will appear during your favorite shows.

What’s this all about, you might be thinking?  Volunteer rates for Americans remain around 26%, as they have for over 40 years.  That means that only 1 in 4 of us give back to our community.  Imagine, if you will, that there are no volunteers.  Nobody to mentor children, nobody to deliver meals to the homebound, nobody to fundraise for organizations, nobody to respond to your car accident or house fire.  Volunteers make an enormous contribution to our community everyday, allowing our nonprofit organizations to do more, serve more people, and impact more lives.  Now imagine if everyone gave a little time to support the programs that serve children, aging adults, animals or the environment.

You can be part of that movement. Should you feel inspired by the volunteerism you witness on TV this week, the Volunteer Center is here to help you identify how you can get involved, whether you have one hour a month or an hour a day.  Visit our website or call me at 972-1705 to learn more.

Posted by Shaele Wood.

It's Day of Caring Time!

Our office is abuzz this morning as all hands are on deck to prepare for our United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring on Wednesday, when more than 2,300 volunteers will venture out to do good deeds at over 250 projects at nonprofit agencies and schools. 

Check out our new commercial, sponsored by Newsplex, and today's article in The Daily Progress.

Posted by Shaele Wood.

A Home Away from Home

When I first came to the United Way, I was so nervous. I was interviewed by Cathy Train, the President, and three days later I was thrown right into the mix of things. All around me I could hear typing fingers, phones ringing, and even a peep or two from Rylan (Lisa Frazier’s little daughter). I wasn’t sure how I would fit in, but as my time at the United Way is coming to an end, I feel like I fit in just where I am supposed to be.

I have been to meetings, helped out with golf tournaments, and become a master of the Andar database,  (even though as I write this, it is not working for me.) I helped operate Westhaven Community Day, a day for the residents of this public housing neighborhood to come together and celebrate their culture and their community. At this event I got to do what I love best: work and play with kids. I have also been to the Charlottesville Newsplex on more than one occasion. I received a tour of their entire studio, and also got to see commercials and ads being made. Speaking of media, Shaele introduced me to a couple of radio stations in the area: I met Mr. Jay James from WINA and Mr. Joe Thomas from WCHV. Here Shaele and I (well, mostly Shaele, because I was observing) promoted the Day of Caring, and encouraged people to submit projects for the volunteers.

Recently, I helped install the Smart Beginnings display in the window of the downtown Virginia National Bank with Nathan, my co-intern. We gathered toys from everyone in the office who has kids, made posters with advice for parents about getting their kids ready for kindergarten, and trotted to the Downtown Mall. Here we spent the day arranging toys, and put up flyers for parents in need of this information. Setting up the window was fun, but when I stepped outside and saw people stopping at the window, I realized that the information Nate and I had put up could really influence and help people in our own community.

My weekly Wednesday project is one of my favorites. I head over to Word of Faith church where I meet up with a host of Latina women to whom Martha Trujillo introduced me. These women come together and discuss problems they are facing or troubles they are having because of the transition from their home country to the U.S. While they talk in a seminar-like fashion, I watch their niños (children). These kids are so much fun, and being there helps me practice my Spanish-speaking skills.

Reimi Okuyama, who very recently moved to Florida, took me with her to court and introduced me to a part of Charlottesville I had no idea about: the drug rehabilitation program. Offenders have the opportunity to be in a three-phase program. If they succeed, the offense will not go on their record, and this program also supports self-confidence and self-control.

I have learned so many skills from being here, and being with all the people, and that’s what surprised me the most about the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area. Everyone here gets along so well, and though each of them is constantly working on something different that may have nothing to do with another person, the friendships I have seen in the office seem great.  In the mornings I always hear Rylan coming up the stairs, followed by Lisa, Shaele, Leah, and Miriam who all dote over her. I am then greeted by Alaina, and we always discuss her battle with her morning coffee. Later in the day I usually see Caroline and Kim who have been watching over me for the past months, and have been absolutely great. Cathy is like a ghost because she is always in meetings and I am usually upstairs anyway. However, when I do see her and get to talk to her, her southern accent always catches my ear. Jon and Helen are also like ghosts because they are always at meetings, as well. I find my desk a cozy little place. There are Post-it notes all around, pens open, and the busy Bizhub printer right next to me. I can’t believe my time here is almost over. For someone who was as nervous as I was, I sure found a home away from home here. Thanks United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area!

Posted by Ladi Smith, United Way Intern.

Call for Projects!

We're excited to share the new PSA  that Charlottesville Newsplex created for the 2009 United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring.  Anchor/News Director Jim Hanchett asks nonprofits and schools to contact the Volunteer Center for help in registering or developing projects.  Thank you, Newsplex!

You may have also heard my new PSA with Jay James playing on the Charlottesville Radio Group stations.  Listen here if you haven't heard it.  The message in both of these PSA's is the same: Day of Caring project registration is now open for nonprofits and schools.  It's not just about painting a wall or planting a bush on Wednesday, September 23, 2009.  Day of Caring is about promoting long-term volunteerism in your agency, building partnerships with local businesses and sharing your agency's mission with our community.

Consider the nonprofits where you work, volunteer or those you advocate for and encourage them to register one or more projects.  With nearly 3,000 volunteers expected to sign up, we're looking for approximately 300 projects of all sizes and types.  Go to the Day of Caring website to register your projects or your volunteer team.  Download the Project Development Toolkit if you need project ideas.  Additionally, United Way staff is eager to help you brainstorm.  Call 434.972.1705 or email swood@unitedwaytja.org. 

Posted by Shaele Wood.

One Enchanted Evening

We appreciate the irony that our mission is to serve community members with the greatest need, or at the greatest risk, yet Caroline Emerson and I spent several hours last evening in the world class, storybook environment of Keswick Hall helping to further that mission.

We are privileged to have Keswick host and sponsor our Keswick-United Way Golf Classic, which is on July 27 this year. Last night NewsRadio 1070 WINA, another tournament sponsor (along with State Farm Insurance) broadcast its signature sports show, “The Best Seat in the House” with our favorite sports host, Jay James, live from the terrace of  Fossett’s bar. We called it our tournament registration party.

You would think it could not get any better than sitting on the terrace overlooking the Arnold Palmer designed golf course and infinity pool on a beautiful summer evening, but it did. Jay’s special guest was University of Virginia head baseball coach Brian O’Connor, fresh from his team’s amazing journey to the College World Series.  He sets the example of class, sportsmanship, drive and determination for coaches at all levels of sports. I admit to asking him to sign a baseball for my family, as we have followed his teams for several years and stayed up way past our bedtimes several nights during their post season run.

Chef Craig Hartman also stopped by for an interview and brought with him some amazing crab cakes – Jay James certainly won’t forget this remote broadcast anytime soon! Coy Barefoot, host of “Charlottesville Right Now” is next in line for the royal treatment as he will also be broadcasting live from Keswick, probably on July 9. Then Rick Daniels and Jane Foy will get their chance the morning of the tournament.

We joke about what a tough job we have when we have the opportunity to “work” at Keswick, but we are serious about doing whatever we can to bring together the resources to bring about positive changes in people’s lives. The funds raised through this golf tournament will help children and families, individuals needing access to health care and prescriptions, those working toward self-sufficiency and many others in our community. Won’t you join us on July 27 at Keswick as a golfer and/or a Hole Sponsor?

Posted by Kim Connolly.

Newsplex Volunteers

   I know the Charlottesville Newsplex is excited to participate again in The United Way Day of Caring this year!  Coming to the Newsplex from a nonprofit background, I think it is such an amazing chance for agencies to showcase their organization and based on that one day of episodic volunteerism, (The Junior League of Charlottesville refers to projects like these as PIADs or Projects in a Day) lots of great things can occur. 

One of our projects last year was bowling with The Arc of the Piedmont, I saw someone so moved by the project and the organization (and the people it helped) that she handed one of the employees a cash donation before she left that day!  Something about bowling and making friends with this group of people, seeing the tools used by the people in wheel chairs to bowl or how happy some of the people were just to have someone to talk to was amazingly moving.  The employees of the Arc were so kind and wonderful to their Adult Day Activity participants and it was such a unique chance to spend time with them. I understand why that lady felt the urge to help!  Without being a participant in Day of Caring, our team of volunteers and the group from the other business at that project would never have had that experience.  On another note, a friend of mine is a regular volunteer with the Boys & Girls Club and she learned about them through the Day of Caring.  I hope as many agencies as possible work with Shaele to come up with projects.  The opportunity for September 23 and beyond seems too good to miss!

Posted by Ali Rothschild, Nonprofit Marketing Partner at the Charlottesville Newsplex

With more than 3,000 volunteers expected to register this year, please consider all nonprofit agencies and schools (including child care centers) where you work, volunteer or support and encourage them to register projects.  A Project Development Toolkit is available to help organizations identify needed projects, and United Way staff is eager to help, as well.  Please visit our website or contact Shaele Wood for more information (434-972-1705).

We extend a big thank you to for their sponsorship of the Day of Caring.  Keep an eye out for a series of television PSA's dedicated to project development, promotion and recognition.

Kudos to Monticello Media and Paladin Media Group

Thanks to the wonderful folks at Monticello Media and Paladin Media Group, our community knows more about Smart Beginnings and how to support our youngest children.  They worked with a wonderful Chamber of Commerce Leadership Charlottesville team in collaboration with Smart Beginnings and lent their expertise and studio time to developing radio and TV public service announcements for Smart Beginnings. These technical media wizards were incredible.

Yesterday, the Leadership Charlottesville team had a chance to thank them for their patience, expertise and creativity.  We also let them know that the PSA’s developed have been so effective and well received that there is interest in using them in other localities around the state.

Please click here if you would like to see/hear the PSAs.

Thank you to the members of the Leadership Charlottesville Team, Linda Kolker, Dennis Mockler, Anita Showers, Tom Cox, Carol Coffey and Michael O’Donnell for bringing the Smart Beginnings message of “Ready for School. Ready for Life” to the public in such creative ways.  And many thanks to the professionals at Monticello Media and Paladin Media Group for bringing those ideas to life.

 

Pictured above with Monticello Media staff.

 

Pictured above with Paladin Media Group staff.

Posted by Miriam Rushfinn.

Glam Golf: Announcing the Second Annual Keswick-United Way Golf Classic

I am EXCITED. The second annual Keswick-United Way Golf Classic, presented by State Farm, will be on July 27, 2009 at the absolutely gorgeous Keswick Hall, Club & Estate. After meeting yesterday with our partners, I can promise that it’s going to be a fantastic event. I know you hear that about every event, but trust me…

Our United Way planning team met yesterday at Keswick with our Golf Classic partners from State Farm, Keswick Hall, and WINA. The Keswick folks are always tremendously gracious, providing amazing hospitality in a breathtaking setting. It is becoming increasing difficult for me to attend meetings anywhere else: I am spoiled. But, I LIKE it.

Rick Daniels and Amy Lambert from WINA are a blast to work with. They have great ideas and enthusiasm, and WINA is a perfect partner for this tournament. Listen for upcoming live broadcasts from Keswick, coming soon (we’ll blog/Tweet/etc. the dates and times). We’ll be talking about registration, sponsorship opportunities, the stunning golf course, and the wonderful dinner that Keswick will whip up for our hungry golfers. Come by Keswick during the broadcasts to register for the tournament, and you just might get a little something special! Stay tuned…

Tom Barnes from State Farm Insurance founded this tournament last year and it raised nearly $10,000 for the United Way- Thomas Jefferson Area. This year, with Tom’s continued guidance, we’ll do even better. State Farm is always there for the United Way.

So, have you got the tournament on your calendar yet? Well, get on it! For more information click here.

Last year's State Farm team:

 

 

Posted by Caroline Emerson.

It Must Be Summer!

Summertime in my office only means one thing: time to start planning for the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring.  June 1 hits and suddenly the phone calls and the emails start.  “When is the Day of Caring?” [September 23rd]  “When do we register our projects?” [Registration begins the end of June].  “Can my team volunteer on the Day?” [Sure thing, just contact me and I’ll add you to the registration email].

I is absolutely my favorite part of my job.  Connecting thousands of volunteers (okay, last year it was    2,500) with over 100 nonprofit agencies and schools to make a meaningful difference in our community.  You read that right – 2,500 volunteers on ONE DAY, out there making a difference in our communities (that’s about 2% of the Charlottesville/Albemarle population volunteering at one time!). 

Impressive, right?  Oh, absolutely.  We’ve enjoyed tremendous growth and enthusiasm by our volunteers.  However, with that growth comes growing pains.  My greatest challenge each summer is to make sure that we have enough high impact, quality projects for all of those volunteers.  Our ultimate goal while planning the Day of Caring is that someone (or hopefully lots of people!) will have a wonderful time volunteering and they will continue to do so throughout the year. 

With my “challenge” in mind, I’m on a mission to get the word out there that project registration is just around the corner.  Now is the time for nonprofit agency and school staff (in Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson) to start thinking about their projects for September.  Beyond that, if you are a board member, a volunteer, or an advocate for an agency or school, please take a moment to forward this blog to the nonprofits you work with. The Day of Caring is an excellent opportunity for a nonprofit to introduce itself to a new group of people and businesses who may be inspired to volunteer with an organization year-round, or become donors.

I spent some time on the air with Joe Thomas of WCHV 1260 AM and 94.1 FM this morning, describing the kinds of activities that nonprofits can have done in September. (I brought along our summer intern, Ladi Smith, pictured here with me and Joe). The ever-popular painting and landscaping projects are always welcomed.  But there are so many other ways that volunteers can help you.  They want to prepare your direct mail pieces; assist with special event activities; plan a recognition event for your regular long-term volunteers; interact with your clients.  The sky is the limit.  If you have an unmet need, volunteers can tackle it.  Visit our website at www.DayOfCaring.info or download our Project Development Toolkit to help generate ideas.  My intern, Brandon Oliver, and I are available to meet at your agency or school to help you identify projects.  And, keep a lookout on our blog.  Soon we will be kicking off our Day of Caring Blog Marathon to help get the word out about registration.  If you have a story to share, we welcome guest bloggers.  Just email me.

Many thanks to Joe Thomas for giving me time during our Live United segment on his morning show, Jay James at WINA for recording our new Day of Caring PSA and Ali Rothschild at Charlottesville Newsplex for developing our new Day of Caring ad that will start airing in a few weeks.  We couldn’t do it without our media partners.

Posted by Shaele Wood.

Help Stamp Out Hunger

It is such a simple idea.  Put your food donations out by your mailbox on Saturday morning, May 9, and your letter carrier will pick it up. All the food will be sorted at the main post office, and then delivered to local food pantries, with Charlottesville-area donations going to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

This is the 17th year the National Association of Letter Carriers is running this food drive, and it is the largest single-day food drive in the country.  We all know the need is greater than ever this year, and Brenda Farrell, the local letter carrier’s food drive coordinator, is doing a terrific job.

Each year, the United Way partners with the letter carriers to assist in marketing the food drive and also in recruiting volunteers to help unload and sort the food. This year, Charlottesville Newsplex (CBS19, ABC16 and WAHU Fox 27) and Monticello Media radio stations, (WCHV NewsTalk 1260 AM and 94.1 FM, HOT101.9, Country 99.7, Tom@107.5, Generations 102.3 and Sports Radio 1400 AM) have become media sponsors and are running public service announcements.

On Monday, all the parties gathered for a photo at the post office: the letter carriers, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Harris Teeter (they supplied the bags that were delivered with the reminder post cards this week), Charlottesville Newsplex, the United Way, the Civil Air Patrol, elected officials from Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville, and Monticello Media.

Members of the Civil Air Patrol’s Monticello Composite Squadron are volunteering for the second year to unload and sort food.

Please remember to put out your nonperishable food donations at your mailbox this Saturday, May 9. For a list of the most needed food items, visit www.brafb.org. 

Posted by Kim Connolly.

Our Little Blog Makes the News

When we started this blog in January 2008, we wondered if anyone would read it. You know – if a tree falls in the woods, does anyone hear it? We were initially apprehensive about out-of-control comments, but soon wondered about the lack of comments – was anyone reading it? One of our first comments was from Marijean Jaggers, a local blogger and PR professional – woohoo!, someone was reading our blog!

How fitting then that a little over a year later, Marijean (who now appears on CBS19 news at 6:30 every Tuesday to talk about blogs) chose to feature our very own Living United blog last night.

We still don’t get a lot of comments on our posts (not controversial enough? – we are OK with that) but we now track visitors with Google Analytics and know that our recent blog marathon for our “Mentor. Tutor. Pass it on!” campaign showed a 100% increase over the previous month.

We are still learning as we go with this blog, and were thrilled to have some more media recognition. We created this blog to give the public a behind-the-scenes look at the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area. See our Feb. 26 post about “What Does the United Way DO?” You’ll learn that we are a homegrown, independent organization that belongs to a well known national trade association. Keep checking back in with us as we have some fun (such as our Segway post) and also inform the public about issues in our community and what we are doing to address our local needs.

Posted by Kim Connolly.

“It will go by really fast.”

That was the advice Kim Connolly gave me about appearing for 20 minutes on Joe Thomas’s talk show on WCHV 1260 AM and 94.1 FM. You were right Kim!   And, it was really fun!  Thank you to the United Way for inviting me to talk about our Leadership Charlottesville Project, Smart Beginnings, with Miriam and Joe this morning.  Joe’s support of Smart Beginnings instantly put me at ease, and Miriam’s expertise made me feel confident the discussion would go well.     

What a terrific project this has been!  Our diverse group of talented team members (Tom Cox, Linda Kolker, Dennis Mockler, Michael O’Donnell, and Anita Showers) chose to work with the Smart Beginnings initiative because we could readily see how making an investment in our children is good for our community  . . . and good for business! 

Working with our partners, Monticello Media and Paladin Media Group, we’ve created radio and TV public service announcements on the importance of quality educational interaction with the youngest members of our community, our pre-school children!  We’ve used humor to get attention and make our points.  Our three key messages are: Read and talk to your children and encourage language development, help prepare them for Kindergarten, and look for Seal of Quality Childcare providers in our community.  We included pre-k educators in our review process to be sure our messages are accurate and helpful. 

April is the month of the young child, and we hope our PSAs will encourage interest and action throughout our community on Smart Beginnings for all our children. Ready for school, ready for life!

 

Posted by guest blogger Carol Coffey

We did it!

Our Leadership Charlottesville team knew that we had done everything possible to make yesterday’s Mentor & Tutor Opportunity Fair a success,  but we still agonized over whether or not the public would show up to visit with the many wonderful organizations in need of volunteers.

Thanks in large part to the generous advertising support by NBC29 and all the Monticello Media radio stations (and we hope by our use of social media like this blog marathon) we had a steady stream of visitors from 3:00 to 6:00. The agency representative were very happy with the engaged, interested contacts they made, and that is what it is all about. If as a result of our efforts, a few more kids have mentors and tutors who take an interest in them, then every single minute spent on this project was worth it.

We had wonderful food donations by Chick-Fil-A, Big Jim’s Bar-B-Que, Harris Teeter and BreadWorks. We even had the Chick Fil A cow walking up and down the Downtown Mall carrying an “Eat Mor Chiken, Mentor Mor Kids” sign. The construction workers on the re-bricking project were particularly thrilled and asked to have a group shot taken with the cow. Thank you to those who were volunteered for cow duty.

We could not have asked for a better location for the fair than the Omni Hotel and cannot thank them enough for the use of their room and wonderful staff. Thank you, Melissa Soutter, for your wonderful event planning expertise.

Shaele Wood of the United Way Volunteer Center provided invaluable, centralized knowledge of our local nonprofit community and provided a lot of technical support to our team. As a Leadership Charlottesville (LC) alumnus, she (in her words) earned her Masters degree in LC as she was a full participant in this, her second LC team project.

We will be surveying our partner agencies in the near future for their feedback and suggestions, and hope to sustain this as an annual effort because there will always be kids in need of mentors and tutors who will pass it on.

We’d love to hear your comments about the fair itself, this blog marathon, or your own stories about mentors or tutors. Please leave your comments below and enjoy the pictures from our event! 

Posted by Kim Connolly.

Outtakes – we need your opinion

Our good friends at Monticello Media radio stations have been supporting our month-long mentor & tutor recruitment drive with public service announcements on all their stations. For the first ad, Lance Blakey and I recorded the ad with the help of Tom @107.5 afternoon host Kerry James, who acted as director and sound engineer for us amateurs. On Tuesday, Lance was not available (out keeping us all safe in his job as a City of Charlottesville firefighter) so I asked Shaele Wood, United Way Volunteer Center Director to help on short notice.

Once again Kerry was gracious and patient with us. Shaele nailed her lines, but I felt like I was hissing the “s” at the end of “interests” and kept trying to do the line over. Of course, the more I focused on saying the word normally, the more strange it sounded. We had a lot of fun with it, and apparently Kerry did too because when he sent us a copy of the ad, he included a separate recording of my outtakes. Enjoy a good laugh by listening here. 

If anyone out there has a great voice or training as an actor or actress and would like to do future ads for us (United Way) free of charge, let me know. For the time being, Shaele and I are sticking with the theory that because our ads do sound like regular people, they actually catch the listener’s attention more than a slick, professional ad would. Listen to these (new ad and previous ad - allow a couple of seconds to load) and let us know by commenting below if you think we should stick with the amateurs or beg some professionals to donate their time.

In the meantime, we hope that these ads, and the new ad running on NBC29 (watch below), will get a lot of folks to come to the Omni on Monday, March 30 from 3:00 to 6:00 pm to meet the people whose words have been populating this blog all month as guest bloggers. After all, it is all about giving support and encouragement to our kids.

Posted by Kim Connolly.

“It's nose-like...yes, it's beautifully nose-like."

What does that mean??  These were the words uttered by our real mom and upcoming star, Amy, at the filming of Smart Beginnings new TV PSA (to be released in April).  I learned so much about the elaborate behind-the-scenes needs while watching Paladin Media Group film our PSA last Monday.  Did you know that to produce a 30-second spot you need 5 hours of filming time?  Or that to ensure you have one beautiful tomato for filming, you need to buy a dozen!?

I’m so grateful for the marketing and media expertise of our wonderful Leadership Charlottesville group (Carol Coffey, Dennis Mockler, Linda Kolker, Michael O'Donnell, Tom Cox and Anita Showers) and the in-kind support from Paladin Media and Monticello Media.  Thanks to their combined efforts, Smart Beginnings will be able to reach parents with young children on television and radio with key messages about early learning, quality child care and school readiness.

By the way, the beautifully nose-like item was a carrot.  I can’t give away the ending, so you’ll just have to look for our PSA in April.  For now, enjoy the photos from the shoot.

Posted by Miriam Rushfinn, Smart Beginnings Director.

Help in Reaching Out

One of the things I love about working in Charlottesville is the wonderful support the nonprofit community receives from local media. Not long after our Leadership Charlottesville team adopted our Mentor & Tutor recruitment campaign, I received a phone call from Neal Bennett, the news director of NBC29. Neal is a Leadership Charlottesville alumnus, and had just begun volunteering as a mentor himself. He encouraged me to contact the station’s promotions director, Ralph Tobias, about getting station support for our effort. Ralph was quite receptive, and we worked with Terri Warren to come up with the public service announcement that is currently running on the station. Thank you NBC29!

Posted by Kim Connolly.

This blog is part of a Blog Marathon aimed to bring awareness to our community of the current needs for mentors and tutors.  Visit www.BeAVolunteer.info to learn about how YOU can make a difference in the life of a child.  Stop by the Omni on March 30 between 3:00-6:00 to meet representatives from all of the programs who are looking for more like you to be a mentor or a tutor. Email swood@unitedwaytja.org for more information. See you there!

Earn it. Keep it. Save it.

I can’t believe that our Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) meeting for employers at CitySpace had more than 70 in attendance. Those who came were interested in helping their employees keep more of their hard earned dollars in their pockets. That is why the Thomas Jefferson Area EITC Coalition’s motto is Earn It. Keep it. Save It.

Many thanks to Rebecca Caldwell and Janine Williams of the UVA Community Credit Union for all their hard work in coordinating and promoting this material and also for the wonderful toolkit of materials they provided each attendee.

Reimi Okuyama, our EITC Coordinator has been tethered to the phone all week. There was a front page story in The Daily Progress on Monday about the work of the coalition, and then both NBC29 and CBS19 ran stories Thursday morning featuring both Janine and Reimi being interviewed. At one point I walked past her desk and there were 15 different color post-it notes with phone calls for her to return!

Do you qualify for an Earned Income Tax Credit? Visit our web page at http://www.unitedwaytja.org/EITC.shtml to learn more.

Posted by Kim Connolly.

All Around Town Auction, February 2-13, 2009

This is the second year that I have been involved with the United Way’s “All Around Town Auction.” It’s such a fun and different event (click here for details).

Right now, my team of volunteers is busily talking with local merchants and businesses about participating. They are having a blast because the merchants are always surprised that we are thinking about them, too!

You see, we’re not just asking businesses to donate something. Unlike regular silent auctions, bidders have to go to a participating business to see the item and place a bid. That’s why it’s the “All Around Town” auction- it happens all over our community. The Auction actually drives customers into businesses. Like all auctions, donor businesses will be listed in materials and advertising, too.

All sorts of things are being offered: artwork, ice cream for a year, hiking gear, jewelry, dinners, and even a carpenter-for-a-day! I love the inventiveness of our local businesses.

We’re partnering with WINA radio and the Charlottesville Newsplex on creating some cool advertising to promote the auction and to recognize the businesses which are taking part. We’ll also do print ads. Our deadline to sign up businesses is next Wednesday, January 14 so we can get our advertising together.

Business owners! Join us now. Show your customers and prospective customers how you "LIVE UNITED." Help those in need in our community while increasing traffic to your business during the slow winter season. Click here to sign up.

Posted by Lisa Cannell, United Way Board Member.

It's Not Too Late to Donate

Yesterday afternoon we received a call from Skip Forbes at Charlottesville Newsplex seeking an interview with us about how our Community Impact Fund campaign was doing and about year-end giving for tax purposes as well. Of course, our fundraising goes on all year, although the busiest time is Sept. through February.

Fortunately, Dan Goodall, our Campaign Co-Chair (along with Liza Borches) works nearby at Virginia National Bank’s new building on Pantops, and he was able to come down and do the interview. I don’t think he has done TV interviews before, but you would never know it! Leah Hill had her camera here and snapped some shots.

As Dan said, we are cautiously optimistic about our fundraising so far. It seems that people understand that the need this year is greater than ever, and they are giving at about the same level as last year. In this economy, we are grateful for that. Donations to United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area are leveraged to their fullest and our volunteers makes sure that each dollar has the greatest impact possible in our local community, addressing our four Impact areas: Successful Kids in Strong Families, Achieving Self-Sufficiency, Access to Health & Wellness and Strengthening Community.

All though 2008, we were there for those whose year was not so great. And we were there for those who wanted to help them. Please give generously so that in 2009, we can continue to change the lives of those who walk by us every day.

Submitted by Kim Connolly