Hygiene Drive Feb 22nd - March 15!

88.5 The Family's "Help for the Homeless" hygiene drive will be collecting new personal care and cleaning products for area crisis agencies, including Soup Or Socks, The Hannah Center, Mary's Place, and St. Vincent de Paul. The goal of Help for the Homeless is to provide a year's worth of hygiene supplies to each agency to help stretch the agencies' limited financial resources. ALL Donations will remain here in Marshfield!
 
 

Please donate generously. Donations can be dropped off at any of the following public locations: Festival Foods, Shopko, Pick 'N Save or Walgreens from Feb. 22 - March 15. We are also accepting donations here in our office.

List of Items Needed

 

Cleaning Supplies:
Laundry Soap Dish Soap
Garbage Bags Floor Cleaner
Bleach Cleansers
Sponges Disinfectant Cleaner
Toilet Bowl Cleaner Dryer Sheets
Dishwashing Gloves

 

Paper Products:
Toilet Tissue Facial Tissue
Paper Towels Feminine Care
Pads Tampons

 

Baby Care:
Diapers Wipes
Baby Bottles Sip Cups
Baby Lotion Baby Shampoo
Rash Ointment

 

Hair Care:
Shampoo Conditioner
Hair Brushes Combs
Clips & Elastics Styling Products - for all types of races & ethnicity

 

Personal Care:
Soft Soap Bar Soap
Deodorant Razors
Shaving Cream Nail Clippers
Cotton Balls Q-tips Moisturizer/Lotions
Contact Solution Lip Balm

 

First Aid:
Children’s Pain Meds Pedialyte
Band Aids Rubbing Alcohol
Hydrogen Peroxide Anti-Diarrheal Meds
Antacids Antibiotic Ointment
Cold Meds Liquid Benadryl
Sun Screen Head Lice Treatment

 

Dental Care:
SOFT Toothbrushes Toothpaste
Dental Floss Denture Care
NO mouthwash please (contains alcohol)

United Way Thank You Celebration Recap and Award Recipients

Wednesday night, the conclusion of the 2014 Marshfield Area United Way Campaign was celebrated at Hotel Marshfield. Campaign Drive Chairs, Brian and Beth Kief, happily announced that the $830,000 goal was met with the campaign total coming in at $833,136. The celebration also recognized numerous businesses and individuals whose contributions to this year’s United Way campaign played a pivotal role in its success. 

The first awards given last night were the Community Vision Awards. These awards recognize workplace campaigns that raise $10,000 or more. The following companies raised more than $10,000 toward this year’s campaign:  BMO Harris Bank, Central City Credit Union, City of Marshfield employees, Festival Foods, Figi’s, Inc., Forward Financial Bank, Prevention Genetics, the Marshfield School District, and V&H, Inc./Heavy Trucks. Felker Brothers Corporation and Staab Construction received Community Vision Awards for their campaigns totaling more than $20,000. The Dental Clinic of Marshfield and Roehl Transport were recognized for raising more than $30,000 and Nelson-Jameson, Inc. for raising more than $40,000 for United Way. Both the Marshfield Clinic and Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital received the Community Vision Award for their campaigns bringing in over $100,000 each, respectively.  Thank you to all of the companies who received Community Vision Awards for your leadership and significant contributions to Marshfield Area United Way.

The Participation Award recognizes the top companies with the highest percentage of employee participation. The Small Business Participation award was awarded to Heritage Bank with 100% of their twenty-two employees contributing to the United Way Campaign. The Medium Business Participation award was presented to BMO Harris Bank whom also had 100% of their employees contribute to this year’s Campaign. Festival Foods received the Large Business Participation Award with 86% of their 241 employees participate in their United Way Campaign.

The Increased Giving Award recognizes the top companies with the highest per capita and overall campaign increase. The awards for Small, Medium, and Large Business were given to the following companies:  Heritage Bank (small), BMO Harris Bank (medium), and Nelson-Jameson (large). Heritage Bank has the highest giving per capita than any other company at $300 per person. BMO Harris Bank’s per capita is $297 per person and Nelson-Jameson’s per capita is $225 per person.

United Way recognizes companies that have taken great strides in improving their United Way Campaign with the Achievement Award. Two companies received the Achievement Award this year as both of them increased their campaigns by more than 50%. Congratulations to Target and the Child Care Center of St. Joseph’s Hospital on being named the recipients of this year’s Achievement Award.

The Campaign of the Year Award is given based on several criteria:  a company that makes a corporate contribution and/or conducts an employee campaign, the total amount of funds raised, an increase in giving, and most notably, if the business went above and beyond with activities and events to raise money for their campaign. The Small Business Campaign of the Year Award was given to a company that has received this honor seven times in the past 14 years, Heritage Bank. The Bank and its employees are a wonderful United Way supporters and community partner.  The Medium Business Campaign of the Year Award was given to a company that increased their giving by 52% over the last year and hit the $10,000 giving mark for the first time in company history, Prevention Genetics. The last time the company who received the Large Business Campaign of the Year Award was in 1996. This year, the company’s campaign raised over $128,000 and was the most in their long history of giving to United Way. Congratulations to Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital on a phenomenal Campaign that featured everything from cookie sales to shaved heads!

None of the success of the annual United Way Campaign would be possible without the thoughtful, diligent work of many volunteer employees that represent United Way within their own company.  The Employee Campaign of the Year Award honors outstanding individuals who coordinate their employer’s workplace campaign. These individual generously give additional time and take on extra responsibilities to help United Way throughout the Campaign season. This year, Kristina Bohn and Heather Schmidt from Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital were recognized as Employee Campaign Coordinators of the Year. These two ladies have dedicated hundreds of hours of their own time for the past several years and United Way couldn’t be more thankful to have individuals like these two ladies represent United Way within their organization.

Last, but not least, the award for Volunteer of the Year was presented to a dedicated group of individuals. The Volunteer of the Year Award was established to recognize volunteers who go above and beyond the call of duty and service for Marshfield Area United Way. The AARP Tax Aide volunteers are recipients of the Volunteer of the Year Award for 2014 and are comprised of fifteen individuals who gave over 2000 hours of their time to offer free tax preparation assistance to 676 low to moderate income individuals. 

While it is an honor to recognize the many businesses and individuals who truly were pivotal in the success of the 2014 United Way Campaign, United Way extends its deepest gratitude to everyone who contributed to this year’s campaign. With your support, tens of thousands of individuals will receive support through United Way programs and initiatives. Thank you for your caring of this great community.

Volunteers Are The Heartbeat of Marshfield Area United Way

Some of our smallest but mightiest volunteers on Make A Difference Day.

In order to operate year-round, Marshfield Area United Way relies heavily on the support of hundreds of volunteers throughout the year. From the governing Board of Directors to the committee of individuals who decide ho

w your generous contributions will be distributed, volunteer community members help United Way leverage resources to do the most good and address our community's most pressing human service needs.

Our small United Way staff (2.5 employees) certainly wouldn't be able to successfully execute the annual fall campaign without the generosity of volunteers. Every year, Campaign Drive Chairs make the commitment to volunteer their time and their voice to lead that year's United Way campaign, while volunteer employees from numerous companies city-wide take on additional duties every fall to represent United Way during their company's workplace campaign, acting as an advocate and facilitator for our organization. Marshfield Area United Way also uses volunteers to help with fundraising events throughout the year. These volunteers play an integral part of making sure the events run smoothly.

Thank you to all the individuals involved with the following United Way committees and efforts throughout the year:

• Board of Directors
• Community Impact Committee Members
• Finance Committee Members
• Campaign Committee Members
• Campaign Volunteers
• Employee Campaign Coordinators
• Special Event (5K for United Way, Wipeout) Volunteers

Marshfield Area United Way has year-round initiatives that are volunteer-based as well. Our greatest appreciation goes out to everyone who helps with the following United Way initiatives: the Annual Backpack & School Supply Drive, Make a Difference Day, the Tax Preparation Assistance program, the Volunteer Reception Center Response team, and the scores of businesses, organizations, and individuals (and they are too many to list by name) who make the weekly implementation of the Nutrition On Weekends program possible:

Thank you to the 2014 Leadership Marshfield group who helped and continue to help with the organization of the NOW program and scheduling of volunteers.

Volunteer Businesses, Organizations, and Groups:

• Alternative High School students and staff
• Marshfield Door Systems employees
• Youth Group - First Presbyterian Church
• Festival Foods employees
• City of Marshfield employees
• V&H Truck employees
• Associated Bank staff
• Forward Financial Bank employees
• Wipfli staff
• Marshfield Clinic employees
• Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital staff
• MCIS employees
• Prince Corporation employees
• United Way's Women's Group members
• 4H group members
• Girl Scouts members
• Gosse Chiropractic
• Heritage Bank - Marshfield and Spencer
• Burnstad's Market
• United Methodist Church (Spencer)
• Granton Rotary Club
• Roger's Grocery
• School District of Marshfield
• School District of Spencer
• School District of Granton

A special thank you to the countless people who have donated food items for the program, to Rotary Winter Wonderland for the donations of peanut butter & jelly, and to Nasonville Dairy for their weekly donation of cheese for the children.

This all amounts to hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours of time donated by individuals, groups, businesses and community leaders who care about our community. The appreciation United Way has for all these efforts to make the Marshfield area a better place to live is too much to express with words.

Humbly, graciously, "thank you all."

What Your Gift to United Way Means...

Most of us (me included) have more than we need.  I mean way more than we need.  Clothes, shoes, household goods, kitchen gadgets, and just plain stuff, and we spend time and energy and money trying to better store and organize it so we can get even more stuff.  For many people our happiness is tied to our things and acquiring new things.  The older I get the more that realize I really do have everything I need, and the longer I work at United Way I’m sure of it.   

You see at United Way we regularly work with individuals and families that truly don’t have enough.  Enough income, food, clothes, healthy relationships, skills, support and the list goes on.  There is something very humbling about looking into someone’s eyes or talking to someone on the phone as they share their personal story.  There is no better feeling than being able to connect that person to a United Way funded program that can help.  I am ALWAYS grateful when that connection is made. 

One such connection was last spring when a young woman and her daughter walked into our office.  When I asked her how I could help her, her eyes filled with tears and she said she needed help because she needed to leave a bad relationship and she didn’t know where to go.  She and I took a walk out the back door and down the block to Personal Development Center.  As a supporter of United Way, YOU made this connection possible.  Your gift means help.  It is food, shelter, warm clothes and counseling for a child who has been abused.  It is a resource for parents with disabled children and safety for families living in violence and so much more.  Please give to this year’s United Way campaign, 15,000 people in our community will be grateful.

Have you given to this year's Marshfield Area United Way Campaign? No?...

In today's world, a dollar doesn’t buy much anymore, but when your dollar is going to Marshfield Area United Way it is making a difference.

Here is what giving just $1 a week can buy at United Way. Your donation of $1 per week…

• Is enough to provide a weekly supplemental (weekend) food pack to one child that is facing food insecurity in his/her home. 
• Will provide supportive services to one family with a disabled child through the Child Disability Resource Center. 
•  Will allow a child participate in a sport/activity that promotes health and well-being through a Right To Play For All Scholarship. 
•  Supports early childhood literacy by providing a book to a child during his/her well-child visit. 
•  Provides one day of food for a family of four through Soup Or Socks food pantry. 
•  Gives 2 area youth the opportunity to participate in Boys Scouts or Girl Scouts.

These are just a few of the ways your generosity is making an impact in the lives of thousands of individuals in our area. To learn more about United Way’s work and the work of its funded partners please visit, www.marshfieldareaunitedway.org and click on “Our Work.”

Please be generous and give today. Any donation, no matter it size, is helping make a difference right here in the Marshfield community. You can give through your workplace campaign, online at www.marshfieldareaunitedway.org, or by mailing your donation to PO Box 771, Marshfield, WI, 54449.

Marshfield Area United Way’s service area includes the city of Marshfield and these surrounding communities: Arpin, Auburndale, Chili, Granton, Greenwood, Loyal, Neillsville, Pittsville, Spencer and Stratford.

Join Community-wide SNAP Challenge October 6th - 10th

Food insecurity and hunger are real issues and they are issues that people are dealing with right here

in our community. Over the past ten years in Wood County, participation in Wisconsin’s FoodShare program has nearly tripled. In 2003, 6195 (3229 adults, 2966 children) individuals where receiving FoodShare benefits. Last year, 18,322 (11,307 adults, 7025 children) were enrolled in the program. Children, age 4 and under are the largest age grouping of individuals receiving FoodShare benefits, making up 13% of the recipients. Fifty percent of FoodShare recipients are age 23 and younger.

Another staggering statistic is children enrolled in the free and reduced meal program in Marshfield public schools. The percentage of students participating has more than doubled over the past decade going from 15% in 2003 to 34.5% in 2013. In 2012, one out of every five students from the Marshfield Middle and High Schools indicated that he or she had gone to bed hungry in the past 30 days because there was not enough food in the home.

In an attempt to bring awareness to the hunger issues facing many of our community members, Marshfield Area United Way is inviting the entire community to take the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Challenge. The SNAP Challenge gives participants a view of the struggle to obtain adequate food that is faced by millions of low-income Americans receiving FoodShare benefits. From October 6th through October 10th individuals participating in the SNAP Challenge will be allowed to spend $4 per day to eat. For a family of four, this would mean feeding all four family members three meals for the day on just $16. By living on the average food stamp benefit, Challenge participants will find themselves forced to make food shopping choices on a limited budget, and learn how difficult it is to avoid hunger, afford nutritious foods, and stay healthy without adequate resources.

To join the community SNAP Challenge and receive a Challenge toolkit that explains your role as a participant, please contact Marshfield Area United Way at 715-384-9992 or unitedway@tznet.com. More information about the SNAP Challenge is also available at www.marshfieldareaunitedway.org.