Kris Minor, left, assistant director of the Cornell Tradition, and Philip Dankert, librarian at the ILR School's Catherwood Library, joined about a dozen Cornell staff members volunteering to help paint at the Day Care and Child Development Council of Tompkins County and do trail maintenance at the Girl Scouts' Camp Bailiwick during the United Way's "Day of Caring" Sept. 17. About 40 volunteers from across the county spent the day helping out at various United Way agencies to kick off the annual campaign. Charles Harrington/University Photography
It's called a pledge card, but it's also a donor-choice card. As the 1997 United Way of Tompkins County campaign gets under way on the Cornell campus, the new and improved pledge card offers donors more ways to earmark their donations.
According to Janiece Bacon Oblak, chair of the campus campaign, the new pledge cards provide donors the opportunity to identify special causes or concerns to be addressed through United Way of Tompkins County. Donors also can designate a United Way campaign in another county, select an unaffiliated health or human service agency, or exclude an agency, she added.
More than 10,000 pledge cards are being distributed to the campus community beginning today, Oblak said. Staff, faculty and retirees at the Ithaca campus are being asked to be part of "one, caring-community response to a hundred critical needs" by donating to the United Way campaign.
Countywide, the campaign goal is $1.46 million. About one-third of that will be raised through the Cornell campus campaign. Several "pacesetter" employers kicked off their campaigns over the summer, Oblak said, and have posted impressive increases over the previous year.
Information about the campaign, the agencies and programs also is available on a United Way Web page at http://www.cornell.edu/united_way/unitedway.html. In addition, contributions will be tracked weekly in the Cornell Chronicle with the traditional United Way thermometer.
"The personal touch is still there, too," Oblak said, noting that 30 members of the campus community are serving as campaign deputies and dozens of other employees are serving as volunteers in a variety of ways. "Even though we are mailing pledge cards to each employee and pledge cards are then forwarded to the United Way office by way of Addressing and Mailing through the Cornell campus mail a cadre of your fellow employees is ready to answer questions about the campaign."
The campus campaign divisions and the volunteers in each division are: Admissions and Financial Aid, Kris Minor; Agriculture and Life Sciences, Joann Gruttadaurio; Architecture, Art and Planning, Brenda Bleck; Arts and Sciences, Philip Lewis; Athletics and Physical Education, Al Gantert; Biological Sciences, Chandra Nash; Information Technologies, Kathie Struble; Continuing Education and Summer Sessions, Janice Miles; Controller and Financial Services, Melinda Sweazey; Cooperative Extension, Ann Argetsinger; Engineering and Research Centers, Bonnie Jo Davis and Tami Lobdell; Facilities and Campus Services, Audrey Lowes; Graduate School, Kristie Lovley; Hotel School, Richard Penner; Human Ecology and Nutritional Sciences, Theresa Pollard; Industrial and Labor Relations, Jennie Farley; Johnson Graduate School, Susan Salton; Law School staff, Mike Riley; Law School faculty, Cynthia Farina; University Libraries, Catherine Murray-Rust; Alumni Affairs and Development, Kathy Loehr-Balada and Scott Schoonover; Student and Academic Services, Phil McPheron; University Administration, Cheryl Bishop, John Gutenberger and Connie Mabry; Veterinary Medicine staff, Gwen Isham; Veterinary Medicine faculty, John Saidla; and retirees, Russ Martin.
"Dedicated, hard-working volunteers make the campaign possible and help keep administrative costs to a minimum so that nearly 90 percent of the money raised in Tompkins County stays right here," Oblak said.