Thursday, November 30, 2006

Benefit Concert for United Way

Guitar soloists, Tom Vinnedge and Kurt Morgan Dovenbarger will perform a mix of traditional covers and original songs at a concert to benefit United Way on Saturday, December 2, 2006, at 7:30pm at the Chestnut Avenue Center for the Arts in downtown Marshfield, WI.

Tom Vinnedge and Kurt Morgan Dovenbarger are local area residents who have recently relocated to the Marshfield area, bringing a wealth of musical experience with them.

Tom Vinnedge arrived in Marshfield from the Twin Cities. His recording credits include two LP’s. His first solo LP, "Lend Me Your Ear," was recorded at Orphane Records, and a second was recorded with Scarecrow Joe at Audio Images Studio in St. Paul.

Kurt Dovenbarger, a Marshfield native, resided in Madison and Milwaukee for the past 25 years. He has recently moved back to the area and will be performing locally.

A music school graduate, Kurt played professionally and taught private lessons in the Milwaukee area for 19 years. Working with a wide variety of bands incorporating rock, blues, country, wedding music, he has opened for such acts as Head East, Eddie Money, Joan Jett, The
Go Go’s. He is perhaps best known for his work with Three James Morgan, a Milwaukee-based rock band who released CD’s in 1999 and 2002. "There's no mistaking that these guys are ace players," exclaimed Scott Wooldridge, quoted in OnMilwaukee.com.

Kurt currently plays solo and duo acts and has established a teaching studio in Marshfield. He hopes to expand the music scene in the Marshfield area and is looking forward to meeting new musicians and local talents.

Tickets to the benefit event will be $5 at the door, with proceeds going to Marshfield Area United Way. Event sponsored by Success Realty. For more information call the Chestnut Avenue Center for the Arts at 715-389-8999 or visit www.chestnutARTS.org. The Center is located in downtown Marshfield at the corner of Third Street and Chestnut Avenue.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Thank You! from everyone at United Way

We're making great progress this year ... and we couldn't have done it without everyone's help.

Thank you to:

Volunteers
Partner Programs
Board Members
Campaign Coordinators
Community Businesses
Campaign Volunteers
Supervisors who give us time to give presentations
Employees across the community who listen to our presentations
Everyone who's contributed so far ...

On behalf of the people who you have touched in the Marshfield area ... we thank you!

Click this link to view a special thank you card http://studio.unitedway.org/thanksgiving/

Friday, November 03, 2006

2-1-1 Celebrates One Year Anniversary


Have you had a community information question that you just couldn’t find the answer to? How many phone books did you page through? You could save all that time, just by dialing 2-1-1.

United Way’s First Call 2-1-1 celebrates its first anniversary, November 1, 2006. Residents of Adams, Clark and Wood Counties are connecting to answers by dialing this simple, easy to remember number any time of day, every day of the week.

Since rollout 2-1-1 has received 2,225 calls, up from 1,378 from last year, helping people get the information they need about health and human service programs in their community. Every call is free and confidential. When you dial 2-1-1 you will speak to a trained information and referral specialist who can help you break down the situation and find the answers you need.

Available 24 hours a day, everyday—2-1-1 provides benefit to our communities by tracking community needs and identifying unmet needs.

September 11, 2001, showed a need for community preparedness and reliable information source in time of a local or national emergency. This lead to a 2003 bi-partisan effort by Senators Hilary Clinton and Elizabeth Dole to encourage a national move to make information easily accessible through 2-1-1 call centers.

First Call for Information has been available in the Marshfield area since 1981. Throughout the years it’s been growing with community needs and the transition to 2-1-1 was the next logical step for the program to continue expanding to serve the community. A listserv for professionals, civic and social organization is now available to alert users of news and material that are available. To sign up, email 211resources@uwfirstcall.org or call 2-1-1.

So the next time you’re wondering about the hours of the senior center or looking for more information about childcare—pick up the telephone and dial 2-1-1.

With the support of Marshfield Area United Way, United Way of South Wood County United Way, Black River Country United Way, Heart of Wisconsin United Way, Adams County, Saint Joseph’s Ministry Health Care Fund, 2-1-1 is available for you to get or give help.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Campaign means waiting

Yesterday was our second count. A count is when we gather all the company envelopes that have been turned in to banks and our office, check and record what they have raised. We have two finance volunteers help our two staff members count the contents of all the envelopes. We record the contributions: how many payroll deductions, checks, cash, special events, count what's in the envelope, record it on the campaign envelope, count sheet and deposit slip. Then we double check everything.

Last year, at our third count, one company turned in a special event that had a lot of coins. Counting more than a $100 worth of coins leaves an impact on you. Jeanne and I laughed at our finance member groaning each time she made a pile of 100 pennies. We both had been there ourselves. And later that morning, we had to count that same bag of coins to make sure that we recorded the right number.

A count that takes a long time has the potential to be good ... or bad. Good because it means there were a lot of donations. Bad because we didn't balance--have the same amount on our sheets compared to money in.

After our counts, it's the waiting game. Then Jeanne comes back to the office to enter all the information, calculate percent increases and losses. After each count I send an update to our campaign volunteers who distribute envelopes to businesses and a press release to the radio and paper.

Yesterday I got the "shell" ready. I laid out the basic bones of the updates, wrote what I could. But now I wait.

We do more waiting then you might think during campaign. We start preparing for campaign season in February when we discuss our theme, ideas for the year. We work on the video and program funding is decided in April and May. June and July is the heavy lifting finding Pacesetters, preparing their materials and ordering our campaign supplies. August the Pacesetters start their campaigns and we begin presentations. I spend two or three months of this time researching, interviewing and writing articles.

But now, most campaigns have started. All the materials are ordered ... we're running out of some. Once we had about eight campaign presentations a week, now we're down to maybe two.

It's the waiting game. Waiting for campaigns to come in with totals, waiting for updates about who's down and by how much--or who had a spectacular year. Each day is different.

One Executive Director from a small United Way in Illinois said through our United Way listserv during campaign time each day was like Christmas morning. I never remembered Christmas being so stressful.

Campaign is exciting ... going into companies, meeting new people, seeing fun ideas and creative events. It's also heart warming to see the effort people bring to their campaigns and their contribution. Our communities really understand the good they do by contributing. We work very hard all year long--not just during September through December--making sure we're getting results and making positive change in our community.

But today, I wait.