Dear Colleagues:
This year's 75th anniversary celebration of the Tompkins County United Way has specific significance to Cornell it marks the number of years that the university has played an active role in promoting our community's well-being through this vital community organization. Be it with the early days when faculty volunteers wrote polite letters to their colleagues soliciting pledges, or today as university employees opt to have their pledges automatically deducted from payroll, Cornell has always been a major contributor to and partner of the United Way. I note that over the past few years, however, there has been decreased participation among Cornell employees, and our long-valued partnership has lost some of its effectiveness.
In the 1994-1995 campaign, 30 percent of the university's employees gave to the United Way. In last year's campaign, this number fell, with only 25 percent of faculty and staff submitting pledges. Considering that Cornell is the largest employer in the county, it seems to me, as a relative newcomer, that we could do better.
The Tompkins County United Way is an organization whose collected funds go to service agencies that directly affect the community. When money raised by the United Way is given to agencies such as the American Red Cross, Alcoholism Council and Mental Health Association, it goes to the local chapters of these national organizations. This local redistribution guarantees that funds stay within the area to provide what is needed here. Indeed, most of the organizations helped by the United Way are not chapters at all but rather purely local entities that exist only to serve residents of Tompkins County.
These local agencies cover a wide range of needs met by the United Way funds. Member organizations are numerous and diverse (39 agencies, offering over 100 programs), including agencies such as Literacy Volunteers of Tompkins County, Boy Scouts of America and Ithaca Rape Crisis, to name a few. Many Cornell employees, or their families, experience firsthand the benefits of these agencies and programs through services they themselves use.
Taking these facts into account, I have to wonder why we have let our participation decline. We have every reason to continue our long-held partnership with the United Way. It is one as mutually beneficial as it is necessary.
This is why I ask that when you receive a pledge card this fall, remember your gift makes a difference right at home in your community, and please, give generously. Thank you.
Franklin M. Loew
Cornell Campaign Chair
Cornell United Way campaign information is available on the Web at http://www.gsm.cornell.edu/unitedway/ or from Rhonda Velazquez at rhv2@cornell.edu or by phone at 255-6418.