Living United

Self-Sufficiency: Telling Stories through Numbers

The numbers are in. Our Thomas Jefferson Area Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) coalition prepared 1,880 tax returns at no charge for local low to middle income residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson counties.

The numbers tell us that the average refund was $1,491 and the average Earned Income Tax Credit (for those who qualified) was $1,742. Similarly, the average Child Care Credit was $784.

The average income for those we helped was $19,341. Think of the impact that receiving those kinds of refunds and credits can have on someone with that sort of income. You could buy new tires for your car. Pay off a medical debt. Visit your mother in another state. Start a savings account.

And the numbers go on. Our coalition volunteers saved these 1,880 people a total of $366,200 in tax preparation fees. We had more than 100 volunteers, most of them UVA students and law students. The total dollar value of credits for earned income, child care and education totaled $1,605,879. The most returns (649) were prepared at the site at the University of Virginia’s Human Resources department. The United Way’s office prepared the second highest number of returns (216). University of Virginia Community Credit Union employees prepared returns in their branches in Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson counties, plus their downtown Charlottesville branch, for a total of 367 returns.

The numbers also tell us that the total impact of our coalition’s efforts this year, including refunds, credits and saved fees, was $3,453,535.

But what the numbers do not tell us are the stories about the people whose lives were vastly improved by this boost to their bank accounts. Here at the United Way office, a staff member prepared a return for a woman who was a recent immigrant from Eastern Europe and had a middle school age daughter. She could not believe that she would actually be getting money back from the earned income tax credit, and even asked to review the return, in case we had made a mistake. Once she received her tax credit, she returned to our office to show us pictures of the new furniture she was able to buy: new beds and mattresses for her and her daughter. She said “Thanks to you, we will not sleep on the floor any more.”

One thousand, eight hundred and eighty  tax returns prepared. There are a lot more stories to be told.

 

Posted by: Kim Connolly

University of Virginia Baseball, Rain, Home Runs and Tailgate Parties

The local businesses who are members of the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area's Home Run Club pledge $10 to our United Way for each home run the University of Virginia baseball team hits from April 1 through the end of the post season. As one way of saying "Thank You" for their support, our Team Captain, CenturyLink, hosts a pre-game tailgate party for the team members using CavOne, UVA's sports promotion trailer.

Last year's tailgate was on a Sunday, and the game was moved earlier in the day due to forecasted thunderstorms in the afternoon of a brutally hot day. So our lunch tailgate morphed into a brunch tailgate.

This year, rain had been forecast for game day well in advance, but "scattered showers" meant that the weeknight game time did not change in advance. We set up our food and drink and tents, and just as our party start time came, so did light rain, which morphed into steady rain. However, our attendees took it all in stride, and the clustered tents made for an intimate gathering in which everyone got to meet new people and get caught up with old friends, too.

Once again, we had amazing food, thanks to Fry's Spring Station, Raising Canes and Beer Run. Our friends at Specialty Beverage also helped out with an assortment of craft beers.

Too bad the delayed game did not add to our home run tally, but we DID add to our friend tally.

This weekend's home series against Georgia Tech promises great baseball weather, and our fingers are crossed for a home run or two.

Posted by: Kim Connolly

Interning for the United Way a Valuable, Wide-Ranging Experience

In my third year at the University of Virginia I decided to enroll in the internship program (UIP) for the entirety of my fourth year. I had extra space in my schedule and thought it would be fun to get out of the classroom for ten hours a week and do something a little more practical.

My first day at the United Way was both wonderful and overwhelming. Jessica, my sponsor, showed me my desk and then introduced me to everybody in the office. They were all incredibly nice and excited to meet me and they all wanted to tell me all about what they did. I of course promptly forgot everything that they said and spend the next few months learning everything I could about the office and remembering what they had told me earlier.

At my internship seminar I heard horror stories of other interns’ experiences; they would vacuum for ten hours a week, didn’t have a desk to sit at, or would have to deal with highly erratic sponsors and schedules. At the United Way, however, everybody went out of their way to accommodate my schedule and they did their best to involve me with everything that went on in the office. As the intern I expected to do a lot of the busy work in the office, but people would hesitate to ask me to do certain things; everybody really wanted me to have a valuable experience and not just envelope-stuffing experience. I helped organized a School Supply Drive, participated in the Day of Caring (I have never blown up that many balloons), went to a Board Meeting, did research for Impact Area meetings, worked on the Better Business Challenge to make the office more sustainable, and accompanied people to the radio station.

From January until April, I devoted most of my time to doing taxes through the EITC tax coalition. While taxes might not sound very exciting, I really enjoyed this portion of the internship! It meant I got to interact with clients, problem solve if a return got rejected, and really feel like I was making a difference in the community.

By interning at the United Way, I now have a much better understanding of how organizations, and particularly non-profits, function. I feel a lot more confident that I will be capable of holding an actual job. I gained great work experience and also started really connecting to Charlottesville (the University tends to be a little bit of a bubble at times). It felt great to be a part of an organization that works so hard to improve the community. I know that when I visit Charlottesville in the future, I will definitely drop by the office and say hi to everyone!

Posted by: Ellen Janssen, University of Virginia Class of 2012

Paying Taxes, Saving Money

Our office has been hopping lately. The Thomas Jefferson Area Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Coalition is headquartered in our office, ably coordinated by our staff member, Pamela Frank.

Our Information and Referral Center's phone has been in constant use, with Martha Trujillo, our Community Services Coordinator, fielding phone calls and scheduling appointments for folks to have their taxes prepared for free. There are many member agencies in our local coalition and approximately 100 volunteers who have been certified by the IRS. Most notable are the students from the University of Virginia and the law school, plus the UVA Community Credit Union, which offers free tax preparation in its branches, especially those in our surrounding rural counties.

While our office may be crowded (since we are one of the tax sites) and our phones ringing constantly, it is a good feeling knowing that we have saved these families and individuals earning less than $50,000 a year a lot of money. Not only do they save the the tax preparation fees, but we help them to claim all the credits for which they are eligible. The IRS estimates that more than a quarter of the people who are eligible for the earned income tax credit do not claim it, and we aim to remedy that. In addition, we help people avoid the so called "instant refunds" which are in reality high interest, short-term loans. Folks who file their taxes through our nonprofit coalition can normally expect their refunds direct deposted into their bank acount within 7 to 10 days.

Pamela reported this morning that since mid January, the coalition has helped around 600 people with their taxes, and we are still barely into the season!

Why do we do this? It all relates to our impact area of Self-Sufficiency. We want to help working people keep their hard-earned dollars, and hopefully save their refunds to use to build a nest eggs or pay off bills. The coalition's motto is Earn it. Keep it. Save it. And that is what we hope they do.

 

Posted By: Kim Connolly

 

The Simplest Gesture

As I sat in my office today, listening to Christmas music and trying to cross things off of my to-do list, I received such a lovely surprise from my mom. It was a reminder to me that even the simplest gestures can make a huge impact on the joy of another during the holiday season.

Back in July, we gave my mom’s preschool class all of the leftover picture frames from the One Fine Day for the United Way golf tournament and day at Keswick Hall. The frames were a generous donation from First Systems & Resources, a local, family-owned printing and promotional products business. After the event, we realized that we had ordered about twenty too many and since the frames were engraved with the date, we couldn’t save them for next year’s event.

After hearing me talk about saving paper towel rolls and egg cartons for my mom’s class, the staff here thought that her group may really enjoy these picture frames. So, that weekend, I dropped off two tote bags full of frames for the preschool class at A.G. Richardson Elementary in Culpeper, Virginia.

It was so long ago that our staff had nearly forgotten about the frames. We were all surprised when my mom’s email came this morning filled with pictures of the children in her class, proudly holding up their newly decorated picture frames.

These simple wooden rectangles that were once meant for the participants in our summer event have now been transformed into beautiful, thoughtful Christmas creations for these children to share with their families this year. The children she works with had a wonderful time sprinkling the frames with glitter, adorning them with stickers and personalizing them as a gift for their family.

All of this reminds me that what may seem like an item we would normally put in the trashcan or recycling bin could be transformed into a beautiful and meaningful piece of artwork.  I am so happy that each of these students had something to take home after school yesterday that they were proud of and excited about.

We can all make a difference. Not only during the holiday season, but all year. Whether you have an hour to spend with someone at a nursing home, five dollars to donate to a local charity or a bag of saved paper towel rolls for school craft projects, you can make a significant difference in the life of someone else.

A special thanks to Ms. Cain and Ms. Jarrell’s preschool class for sharing their artwork with us!

 

Wishing each of you a safe, peaceful and joyous holiday!

 

Posted by: Jessica Snyder, United Way Volunteer Center Director

Christmas Trees, Living on a Budget and Wonderful Volunteers

Years ago, when I was working at a nonprofit in another state, I had an assistant  who was one of the most outgoing, happy and hardworking persons I have ever met. She was also the same age as me (30) and had a 14 year old daughter. Yes, the math says she was 16 when she became a mother. One day, as we were driving to a meeting, she pointed out a large evergreen bush in front of an unoccupied industrial building. She told me the story of how one year, she could not afford a Christmas tree and so instead took a very large branch from the back of that bush and brought it home and decorated it for her young daughter.

Having grown up in a protected suburban bubble, this was the first time I had realized that for many families, a Christmas tree is a big expense. Perhaps that is why I so wholeheartedly embraced the Target stores’ Share-A-Tree program when their store opened in Charlottesville.

For 21 years, Target stores across the country have donated a couple of special display Christmas trees to their local United Way to give to families or a local nonprofit organization. We are so fortunate that our local store manager may actually be Santa’s special envoy, because he donates ALL of the store’s display Christmas trees to us each year. This year there were 24 trees.

We try to spread the joy every year by working with a different local organization to identify families who are struggling to make ends meet. These artificial trees enable families to keep money in their pockets each holiday season by eliminating the need to purchase a new tree each year. Whether you are a real or fake tree aficionado, you can agree that this makes good economic sense for these families.

In past years, we have worked with the Charlottesville City Public Housing Association of Residents, Love Inc.(which put us in touch with local churches), MACAA and GRACE in Greene County. This year, it was not hard to see that the people in hard-hit Louisa County, the epicenter of the August earthquake, could use some extra holiday cheer. So we contacted Donna Isom at the Louisa Resource Council, who immediately began finding homes for the trees. Two of the trees, which were quite high-tech looking as they were made of black tinsel, were given to Computers4Kids here in Charlottesville, to be decorated using a technology theme.

Ryan McKillip, regional manager of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, has provided us with a box truck for the fourth year in a row, and looks forward to volunteering to pick up and deliver the trees each year. Henry Graff, reporter for NBC29, joined as a volunteer last year when we delivered to his Greene County neighbors, and has now made this an annual volunteer effort (of course producing a news story along the way). The three of us are beginning to be a well-oiled machine.

Here is the link to our still photos from the day, and below is Henry’s story.

 

In addition, Bryan McKenzie of The Daily Progress, put his signature spin on the story in his column this week. Many thanks to the good folks at Target’s national headquarters, and many more to the employees of our local store for embracing and enhancing this wonderful concept.

Give. Advocate. Volunteer. That is what is means to Live United.

 

Posted by: Kim Connolly

United Way Staff Rock!

We here at the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area have always known that Caroline Emerson, our Vice President and Campaign Director, is an amazing person. Now, because of this profile in Charlottesville Woman's blog, those who have not have the good fortune of meeting Caroline (yet!) can get to know her fun, positive personality. Read the blog post here.

Caroline keeps us all laughing and her positive outlook on everything is infectious. Although her job is serious - raising funds to help improve lives for those struggling in our community, Caroline has a way of  bringing such energy to her work, that you can't help but get caught up in the cause. Who wouldn't want to work with a bright, fun, dedicated person like that each and every day? We know we are all lucky.

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

Every Gift Creates An Impact

In this season of Thanksgiving, we at the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area are thankful for the many people and organizations who choose to support us.  We are fortunate to have a wide variety of donors, ranging from large corporations to small businesses, schoolchildren to college professors and anyone in between. 

One recent donor stands out particularly in my mind: a woman who came to our office to hand-deliver her gift of $2 cash.  I have met this lady before and know her well enough to know that she lives on a very limited income.  While $2 may seem like a small amount to some people, it was a generous gift for her, considering her limited resources.  I doubt she has a car, so I was particularly touched that she cared enough to take the time and effort to come deliver her gift in person.

Every donor is important.  Every gift we receive, regardless of size, combines with others to create a lasting impact in our community.  With these generous donations, we advance our goals of School Readiness, Self-Sufficiency, and Community Health.  We all win when a child succeeds in school, when families are financially stable, and when our neighbors are healthy.  United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area appreciates all of our supporters who help make our community a better place to live.

 

Posted by Alaina Schroeder

A Caring Commitment

Its official: our United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring season has come to a close. On Friday, October 21, more than forty of our neighbors at Hantzmon Wiebel set out to complete five of the projects that were either not completed in September or hadn’t been finished that day.

The folks at the venerable accounting firm are in the middle of a busy season in September and can’t participate during our United Way Day of Caring, so we always appreciate their commitment to participate in October.

Their day kicked off with a few quick speakers and a delicious barbecue lunch in their parking lot. Afterwards, the teams headed out to their project sites and some of the United Way staff ventured out to visit the sites.

 

Kim Connolly and I had the pleasure of visiting the teams at the Ronald McDonald House, Ivy Creek Foundation and Woodbrook Elementary School. The teams were accomplishing huge projects for these nonprofits and schools including demolishing old wells, removing invasive plants, installing patios, and painting furniture. Most importantly, each group of volunteers was smiling and talking about the connections that had been made with the nonprofit or school they were volunteering with.

As we wrap up the United Way Day of Caring season, I can’t help but to reflect on my first year working with this event and the results that I hope came from the projects.

• I hope that at least one of the volunteers will go back to the agency that they worked with on the United Way Day of Caring and volunteer again.
• I hope that all of the volunteers will make a commitment to find ways to volunteer throughout the year by visiting www.BeAVolunteer.info.
• I hope that the nonprofits and schools made some great connections with the volunteers and will invite them back for events, volunteer opportunities or even board membership.
• I hope that other members in the community saw the United Way Day of Caring on the news, read about it on Twitter, saw pictures of it on Facebook and will get involved next year.

I am left feeling so optimistic about the community and the possibilities of the impact this event has and will continue to have on all of us. Now that we’ve wrapped up the projects, I am eager to get to work on next year’s event to make sure that it is more successful, more impactful and more meaningful than ever!

 

Posted by Jessica Snyder, United Way Volunteer Center Director

Give. Advocate. Volunteer...Be Energy Efficient?

The United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area is one of the seventy businesses that have joined the Better Business Challenge, an initiative by LEAP and Better World Betty that encourages businesses to become greener. Points are given for assessing current practices (such as reviewing a year’s worth of utility bills) and implementing sustainable changes (such as replacing incandescent light bulbs with CFLS or LEDS)

We are exited to start earning points for incorporating greener practices in our daily operations. To become “certified,” we have to get at least forty points in the areas of energy, water, waste, purchasing, leadership, and transportation. With the help of LEAP we have started benchmarking our energy and water usage so we can set reduction goals and identify areas in which we can improve sustainability.

I am helping Alaina Schroeder with this energy efficiency challenge as one of my internship projects here. Since the start of the challenge, we’ve been reading up on “greener” practices. Alaina attended a meeting where she learned about more efficient lighting and we met with our two volunteer UVA student Better Business Challenge “concierges” to discuss our options. Now, they are off researching light bulbs, lighting assessments, energy audits, etc. for us.

Being such a small organization has both pros and cons for the challenge. The transportation category doesn’t apply at all and because we use relatively little water (especially compared to restaurants), our water saving options are also limited. I have made an inventory of all electrical equipment in the office; it would have probably taken me days had we been much larger. In addition, it turns out we are already doing a number of sustainable things in the office. We recycle, store and make documents available online, we print double sided, and we’ve planted drought resistant plants that we don’t water at all. 

We hope that as the challenge continues our energy and water costs go down with the changes we implement. This way, the Challenge will not only help us contribute to a greener planet, but will also make it possible for even more of our funds to go towards community projects instead of bills.

We will keep you updated as the challenge goes on with the improvements we have made. If you are interested in joining, the official deadline to join the Better Business Challenge was October 1 (extended from September 15) but they are more than happy to accept participants throughout the fall.

 Submitted by: Ellen Janssen

With Your Help, We Are Changing Lives

Wow.

A little recent number crunching on our part yielded this statistic:

The average annual benefit this past year for our United Way RxRelief Prescription Assistance Program clients was $4,017 in medications (retail cost) -- this represents 30% of the average annual income of our clients ($13,186).

This is how we have an impact on our community.

In order to qualify for assistance from this program, individuals must have a chronic, long term condition like diabetes, heart disease or mental illness that requires medication, and they must be uninsured.

They no longer have to choose between paying their electric bill or paying for medications. They are staying healthier because they are taking their medications regularly. This reduces the need for emergency medical care, which reduces the financial burden on hospitals treating uninsured patients, or on the families facing insurmountable medical bills. Because they are healthy, they miss less work, so they have a steadier income and their employer has a consistent employee.

Community Health and Self-Sufficiency are two of our impact areas (the other is School Readiness). This program, in which our employee, Medication Assistance Caseworker Helen Frye, spends her time mostly at the Charlottesville Free Clinic and Region Ten Community Services Board, as well as at Martha Jefferson Hospital's satellite offices, demonstrates how we can leverage our resources to have a very large impact.

When you are considering where to make your charitable donations this year, please consider how our United Way uses your donations to maximize the ways we can have a positive impact on individuals’ lives and strengthen our community.

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

Reflections on My First United Way Day of Caring

 On January 11, I walked into the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area as the new Volunteer Center Director. In less than ten months, I would have to pull off the 20^th anniversary of the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring. I had big shoes to fill and I was nervous about whether or not I’d be able to meet the expectations.

Planning for the event started early in the spring, but no amount of planning could have prepared me as much as living through the experience. I knew that as much as I prepared and planned, I’d have to see, hear and feel the United Way Day of Caring to really understand it. The experience of that day is something that I will never forget.

I woke up at 2:15am on September 21^st to the sound of my alarm and I got ready for the day, leaving my house at 3:30am to start my hour commute to Charlottesville. Our staff started right away to prep the parking lot for the 500 people we expected that morning.

Hundreds of balloons, two television interviews and one radio interview later, it was time to kick-off the breakfast. The rally flew by with performances by State Farm’s Choir, speakers and great food provided by State Farm.

From the breakfast, we all headed out to visit as many project sites as possible to thank the volunteers. The rest of the day felt like a flash and before I knew it, we were back at the office putting all of our banners and signs back in the basement… and the day was over.

Now, just 256 days after I started and two days after the United Way Day of Caring, I can’t help but reflect on the experience:

This community is amazing! I was really touched by seeing the joy of both the volunteers and the people they worked with.

• The United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area staff members were huge supporters of me in this event and I was floored by how happy they were to wake up so early to make the day a success.
•  I was thrilled by how many United Way board members volunteered their time on projects that day or traveled around to help us thank the volunteers.
• Being overly organized and making tons of to-do lists (yes, I’m an old fashioned pen and paper kind of girl) isn’t always a bad thing! Without my to-do lists, I don’t know if I would have made it through.
• As stressful as the planning process could be at times, I am 100% confident that I have the best job in the entire world.  To be able to plan an event that brings so much value to the nonprofit and public school community and bring so much joy to the volunteers is both humbling and rewarding.

I owe a HUGE thank you to all of our sponsors, my colleagues, our United Way Board members, all of the nonprofits, schools, volunteers, the media and the local community for making the 20^th United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day such a success story and for helping to make my job so rewarding!

 

Posted by Jessica Snyder

United Way Volunteer Center Director

All Hands on Deck for the Day of Caring!

Next Wednesday, September 21, 2011 is the 20th annual United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring. What does that mean?

• 2,100 local volunteers registered to participate
• 242 projects have been registered from 100 agencies and schools in Charlottesville and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa and Nelson counties.
• 152 teams of employees and people from more than 60 local businesses, churches and civic organizations will invest more than 12,600 man-hours in helping our community.
• The investment in the community from this one-day event is approximately $278,000 in addition to hundreds of dollars in donated materials and supplies.
• Nonprofits and schools will have needed projects completed and will be introduced to new people ready to be inspired to become year-round volunteers and supporters of their organizations.

This amazing day starts of with a breakfast rally with about 500 volunteer attending, and then everyone heads out to their respective project sites. As you can imagine, Jessica Snyder, our Volunteer Center director, has been organizing this events for nearly 6 months. Other staff members have helped her here and there, but next week, all of our attention is fully diverted for a couple of days to this massive undertaking.

This year, to celebrate the 20th anniversary, we have added special school supply drive for the materials that local teachers have told us they need n their classrooms. Certain teams have taken this on as their projects, and you are welcome to stop by the volunteers' breakfast rally at Albemarle Square from 7:30 - 8:30 am on the 21st to drop off your donation of any of the items on this list.

Here is the Charlottesville Newsplex story on it

 

The school supply drive projects were already assigned when the earthquake struck Louisa. Teachers in Thomas Jefferson Elementary School have been unable to return to their classrooms to retrieve their supplies - many bought with their own money. So we are making an effort to direct all extra supplies from the drive to them.

If you missed the registration dates for the United Way Day of Caring, email Jessica Snyder at jsnyder@unitedwaytja.org and ask her to get on the contact list for next year. Project and team registrations start in June.

We are looking forward to a great day!

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

We Don’t Just Wear the Shirt, We Live It.

To Live United means that you give, advocate and volunteer. It means that when you reach out a hand to one, you influence the condition of all. It means that we are all interconnected, interdependent, united. It means that you think of We before Me.

At the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area, we try to Live United every day. Our staff is cause-driven – we like to help people, and love to be able to do it for a living.

So when it came time to design our ads for The Hook’s Annual Manual and C-Ville’s Best of C-Ville issues - which people tend to hold on to - we tried to incorporate that theme into our ad.

Here it is – what do you think?

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

When is a Deadline a Deadline?

Nonprofit project and volunteer team registration for the September 21^st United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring opened on June 1^st and a month before that for schools.

Since the first of June, we have had news stories and interviews on TV and radio and have run public services announcements on all three Charlottesville Newsplex stations and on nearly every radio station in Charlottesville encouraging nonprofits to register their projects and for volunteer teams to sign up. Several Constant Contact emails have been sent to everyone who has participated in the past.

Our intern called all the agencies who had not submitted projects a week before the deadline. CVille Calendar sent out a blast to their 7,000 subscribers. SuzySaidCville has posted about project registrations. Announcements have been made at meetings of local nonprofits and on the Chamber of Commerce weekly e-newsletter. And of course, we have done several blog posts about the Day of Caring, as well as had a prominent widget on our United Way home page and on the sidebar of this blog.

Volunteer Center director Jessica Snyder released the project list to all registered teams on Monday, and will be releasing the list of lottery numbers by which teams get to choose their projects next week.

And still…

Her phone is ringing and emails are pouring in from Proscrastinating Pollies (and Pauls) -  nonprofits who had not registered projects by the July 29 deadline and folks wanting to register their volunteer teams. One nonprofit even got phone calls from past volunteers who did not see the organization listed on the released project list asking why they did not have a project listed. What a missed opportunity for that nonprofit!

 The Proscrastinating Pollies say they had not heard anything about it… TV, print, radio, email, phone calls, Twitter, Facebook, website and postings on this blog since the beginning of June – are we missing something?

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

It was One Fine Day

Monday may have been hot and humid, but the participants in One Fine Day for the United Way, a day at Keswick Hall, Club & Estate, had “a total blast” as one person posted on Twitter later. Silver sponsors StellarOne Bank and Volvo of Charlottesville helped make the day possible, and the stellar staff of Keswick and the United Way made sure things ran smoothly.

The day started with a live broadcast of WINA’s “Morning News with Rick & Jane” from the patio at Keswick Club. Later, Rick played golf in the Keswick-United Way Golf Classic, in which golfers were able to be refreshed by beer tastings at the four par 3 holes.

Jane enjoyed “An Afternoon at the Estate,” where participants enjoyed resort activities like croquet and archery, tours of the grounds, wine tasting and flower arranging. One person described it as “a mini vacation”. Next year, we will tweak the offerings to hopefully include a cooking class and kitchen garden tour. The wine tasting was a big hit, taking place in the Hall's new wine cellar, so we will be sure that again.

At the end of the day, everyone came together in the ballroom for a wonderful summer buffet sponsored by BB&T. Brad Ramsey, general manager of the Charlottesville Newsplex, held a lively mini auction and then drew the winning raffle tickets for an amazing assortment of goods and services. Many thanks to the United Way’s exceptional special projects volunteer Margo Szeliga for assembling our sponsors and soliciting donations for the raffle and auction.

Congratulations to the winning golf team of Tom Barnes, John Echols, Jud Foster and Kevin Leibl, who received the Keswick-United Way Golf Classic perpetual trophy.

It truly was One Fine Day!

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

 

Preparing for Two Fine Days!

We have been in full preparation mode this week getting ready for One Fine Day for the United Way on Monday, July 25 - a Day at Keswick Hall, Club and Estate. Golfers are looking forward to the Keswick-United Way Golf Classic, which includes specialty beer tasting at four of the holes this year, and non-golfers will be enjoying resort activities normally only available to guests of Keswick Hall or members of Keswick Club.

We have been creating signs for our holes sponsors and posters thanking our sponsors and raffle donors, doing last minute team registrations, and so on to make sure the days runs smoothly. We are relieved that the weather report for Monday does not include such oppressive heat as we have today.

In the meantime, our staff continues to help the people walking in the door or calling on the phone seeking help or referrals to local agencies. They will be glad when the boxes, posters, coolers and cases of water and soda are out of the way after the golf tournament.

We will have photographers roaming around on Monday, so we'll be posting photos to make you wish you were there - and to make plans to join us next year. Our friends and event sponsor at NewsRadio 1070 AM WINA, will be broadcasting live from the patios at Keswick Club on Monday morning, so tune in between 6 am to 10am and listen to Morning News with Rick & Jane.

But there is another day that we are preparing for - one that takes about nine months to organize - the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring on September 21. Our Volunteer Center director, Jessica Snyder, disappears into her office each morning to field phone calls and emails from nonprofits and schools with questions about registering their projects, or from businesses wanting to register volunteer teams. We have a new and improved system for registrations this year, but like anything unfamiliar, some folks need some help with the process.

We are in the final push for project registration for nonprofits and school - every year they seem to wait until the last minute to register, causing Jessica to lose a lot of sleep wondering if there will be enough projects for the 2,500 expected volunteers. Last week, we recorded a PSA with our friend Joe Thomas, host of The Joe Thomas in the Morning show on WCHV, 1260 AM and 107.5 FM, where we have a weekly 8:30 Thursday morning guest spot.

 

United way doc psa

 There is still time to sign up for the United Way Day of Caring - just check the link in our sidebar.

 

Posted by Kim connolly

 

Car Dealers Join the Force for Good

Back in April, the UVa Community Credit Union once again brought together local car dealers to offer Car Wars to the public. Not only did car shoppers get great deal on great vehicles, but the entire event also benefitted United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area.

Yesterday, after all the numbers had been crunched, and everyone had the same day and time open on their calendars, representatives from UVA Community Credit Union, Jim Price Auto, Battlefield Ford, Colonial Auto Group and Brown Automotive came together to present a check for $3,500 to Caroline Emerson, Vice President and Campaign Director of the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area. Local children, families, seniors and those with disabilities will benefit from the programs these funds will help.

Thank you!

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

A quiet work week…or is it?

It seems that many folks have taken advantage of a Monday holiday to take this week off. Our phone is pretty quiet, and our staff has far less than the usual number of meetings scheduled.

 However…

 Our staff is simply digging in to prepare for:

• Our annual financial audit with the good folks at the Hantzmon Wiebel accounting firm
• One Fine Day for the United Way on July 25th
• The creation of our annual report, and
• The 20^th anniversary of United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring on September 21^st. Jessica Snyder’s phone is the busiest as she fields several phone inquiries a day from nonprofits wanting to register a Day of Caring project or businesses wanting to register a team.

 A summer slowdown? Only on the surface.

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

Good Times for a Good Cause

Last night we have the privilege and the pleasure of holding our kick-off registration party for “One Fine Day for the United Way” at Keswick Hall, Club and Estate. Once again, our good friends at NewsRadio 1070 WINA, one of the event sponsors, had a live broadcast of Jay James’ “Best Seat in the House” show, and once again, UVA baseball coach Brian O’Connor was the featured guest on the show.

We wish that he could have been in Omaha coaching in the championship of the College World Series instead of sitting on the (lovely!) patio at Keswick Hall, but it was not a bad way to spend the evening. This year, we were fortunate to have his assistant coaches, Karl Kuhn and Kevin McMullan, join Jay for the show, as well as pitcher Tyler Wilson. And, many of our friends joined us for refreshments on the patio as well.

 

You have the chance to partake in the gorgeous venue and outstanding hospitality of Keswick Hall, Club & Estate if you join us for either the Keswick-United Way Golf Classic or An Afternoon at the Estate on July 25. You won’t regret it!

 

Posted by Kim Connolly