Our new slogan for the 2009-10 season has been proven over and over by numerous campaigns.  Giving, advocating and volunteering are second nature to many.  Iroquois Gas Transmission System, Fletcher Thompson, Basement Systems, BIC, Energizer and others demonstrate exactly what this means to help our community to improve their quality of life.  Dress down days, Health Fairs, theme days, raffles and auctions are just a few of the ways these companies support United Way in addition to personal and corporate pledging.

Other great campaigns running at this time include:  Webster Bank, R.D. Scinto, Bank of America, BlumShapiro, California Closets and Yankee Gas.  And there are still many more to come!  We opened November with Pitney Bowes and Stop and Shop and will continue with Vishay Americas, W.E. Bassett, Valley Post offices, Curtiss Ryan Honda, Valley Municipal offices  and complete the month with The Kerite Company, The Spectrum Group, TD Bank  and many of our agencies, just to name a few. 
CAN YOU HELP US? 

Challenging economic times are making it difficult for many to donate the dollars they would normally give to United Way.  By hosting a United Way campaign presentation at your place of employment, you can combine employee gifts to support multiple agencies, touching many more lives and therefore having a greater impact.  This in turn can enhance employee pride, promote positive corporate publicity, and expose your employees to resources and support services to assist their families.  For further information on campaign presentations and other ways to help please contact Laurel Vicidomino at laurel.vicidomino@valleyunitedway.org.

Nick Tarasovic, husband of Pat Tarasovic, Director of the Volunteer Center, will be competing in the Revolution3 Cedar Point event in Sandusky, Ohio on September 12, 2010 to benefit Valley United Way. All he will have to do is swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 more miles! 

That takes dedication and motivation, and when you mix that with Nick's compassion and community spirit, you come up with the ingredients for the Tri-Challenge. That's Tri as in Try! In order to keep him motivated, we've set up the Tri-Challenge, and we're asking you to be part of Nick's support team by motivating him to train hard and support the community at the same time.

You can help Nick by making a pledge based on Nick's training mileage. He's expecting to log between 4000 and 6000 miles during the course of the training and 100% of the proceeds benefit Valley United Way. Stay tuned in the coming weeks. We will be posting more in-depth coverage on Nick, his training and how the funds he is raising is helping those in need. Click here for more information.

 

 

 

Valley United Way's High School Volunteer Council has just begun its 15th year in operation. All six Valley high schools are part of the Council, and they meet monthly throughout the school year to discuss their work in supporting the community. It's an amazing group, and you can learn a lot more about them by visiting our website.

Noted Valley caterer and community leader, David M. Grant, has been selected as the 2009 Honorary Race Director for the Commodore Hull Thanksgiving Day 5K Road Race. You might have seen him helping along the race course every year since the race started. It is fitting that this year he will move to the front of the line as this year's Honorary Race Director and fire the gun to start the race!