THE YEAR IN REVIEW – 2010
The year of 2010 started with the annual meeting on January 11, 2010 which was also the first Board meeting with the new Board members: Tim Rausch, Suzanne Bernatovitch, and Diane DeLuca. Returning Board members were Jay Jarrett, John O’Reilly, Phil Ross, Cindy Prosseda, Richard Cashman, Theresa Kalanick, Debra Keller, Cindy Lombard, Margy Rochester, Cindy Romeo, Michael Scholtes, Holli Sult and David Witchey.
New officers elected at the meeting were Jay Jarrett, President; Cindy Prosseda, Vice-President; Phil Ross, Secretary and John O’Reilly, Treasurer.
The Community Impact Committee awarded their first grant for $5,000.00 to the Family Center to run a financial literacy program. By the middle of their grant year, the Center was using the curriculum purchased with the grant funds not only with their parents but also with juvenile probationers and county prisoners. The curriculum has proven to be very popular with both instructors and students since it presents financial concepts very clearly. We also gave the curriculum to both the Women’s Center and Beyond Violence to use with their clients as well.
January also saw the continuation of the work of the Budget and Agency Relations Committee (BARC). Because the campaign was extended into January, agency presentations were moved into February and were once again held separate from United Way of Columbia County. The Committee members had already conducted agency site visits, filed reports on their visits, reviewed the agencies’ funding applications, and prepared questions for the presentations.
In February, BARC met to make funding recommendations for approval by the Board at the February meeting. The allocations approved for 2010 were American Red Cross - $51,000; Berwick YMCA - $50,000; McBride Memorial Library - $57,000; Beyond Violence - $42,000; Big Brothers/BigSisters - $10,000; Boy Scouts - $14,000; Columbia Child Development - $11,000; Salvation Army - $28,000; Women’s Center - $6,101. The Board also approved direct funding to the Girl Scout troops and local council while sending designated funds to the Harrisburg office. During 2010, 18 Girl Scout troops received $240.00 each for a variety of projects while the local council received $487.00 for winter camping and the 50th anniversary celebration for Camp Louise.
February also marked the second year for the VITA site in the Berwick area and volunteers once again provided free state and federal income tax filing services for 239 residents. Located at the McBride Memorial Library, the site was open fifteen hours per week and was staffed by thirteen volunteer tax preparers. A new twist for 2010 was the Disney Day program which earned volunteers a day pass to a Disney park in exchange for 8 hours of volunteer service. About 30 volunteers took advantage of the program and went to work scheduling appointments for the site. A few have remained as volunteers for a variety of our projects.
The total refunds from the site were more than $410,000 with almost $75,000 saved in tax preparation fees. The volunteers were honored at a dinner held April 15th, which was catered by the Special Events Committee. Volunteers received t-shirts, coffee mugs and certificates of appreciation for their work and commitment to the program. David Grey, our VISTA worker for 2009/2010, was responsible for running the VITA site.
The Non-Profit Academy continued classes during 2010 with a social networking class taught by Eddie Donlin of Studio D Photography in February. Twenty-one volunteers from Columbia County non-profits learned about the value of social networking to expand their outreach to our community.
The Diaper Bank project got off the ground in March with donations from PPL, St. Joseph’s Church, Orange Street School and 1st Presbyterian Church. Over 250 vouchers for free diapers were distributed but the program was closed in June due to lack of interest on the part of intended recipients.
In April, our Day of Caring drew 152 volunteers for breakfast and a day of work at area non-profits, including setting up tents and cleaning the pool at Camp Louise, clean up at Camp Lavigne, helping to organize pantries and clothing donations at a women’s shelter, delivering meals on wheels and cleaning up the park and landscaping at Salem Township and Berwick Borough municipal buildings.
We moved even further into the digital age with our first email newsletter in April. Designed by Heather Delp, a Bloomsburg University intern, the newsletter uses Constant Contact to deal with spam filters and manage our email addresses. As of the end of the year, we had more than 500 addresses in our data base and continue to offer a Live United t-shirt in exchange for an email address. Mimi Mylin, PPL, was instrumental in evaluating our content to be sure our message is delivered consistently. Two other issues have gone out since then and we have also used Constant Contact’s invitation feature to save postage. We continue to be on Facebook, Hands on Network, Volunteer for Good and Guidestar as supports for our fund raising and volunteer recruitment.
The May Letter Carrier’s Food Drive gathered a little less than 4 tons of food for food banks in Nescopeck, Shickshinny and Berwick. Fourteen volunteers picked up from area homes and from the letter carriers during the day and then made deliveries to the food banks. Chris Seferin and Ron Seferin from the Berwick Post Office coordinated the event and provided lunch for the volunteers.
At the May awards ceremonies at Berwick High School and Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech School, Berwick Area United Way gave out youth volunteerism awards of $100 to 3 seniors at Berwick and 1 senior at Vo-Tech. The awards are based on a student’s record of volunteer work and an essay on the importance of volunteerism in a community. Erica Szpynda, Holly Welsh, Brittany Elmes and Emily Hartman received awards in 2010.
Starting in May and working throughout the summer, a group of twelve interns from the MBA program at Bloomsburg University worked on a business plan for a homeless shelter as well as a public relations piece to use with community groups and local government to explain the need and the project. The interns completed their work in August with a major presentation but also recommended that another team of interns be convened in the spring and summer 2011 to expand the project to consider other ways of meeting the need for shelter in Columbia County. The interns were supported by a group of 34 community resource people pulled together through our contacts.
The summer was also a time for major office changes as a new position – Resource Development Director was filled by Byrne Lewis who came to us from a small United Way in New York State. Bryne was campaign director there and brings analytic skills as well as experience with our new donation software – Donation Tracker. Bryne also completed a grant writing workshop sponsored by United Way Worldwide and prepared a grant to Community Bank for funding for the tax site.
The Donation Tracker software was installed in June and data moved from our old software to the new. Part of the cost of the software was covered by a grant from the Berwick Health and Wellness Fund of the Central Susquehanna Community Foundation. All of the staff has been trained on the software although some are better at it than others.
Vera MacRone also retired in July and was replaced by Sue Younker, an active community resident and native Berwickian. Sue took an online class in Quickbooks as well as working with a Quickbooks coach to be sure our financial records are as complete and accurate as possible.
In August, four of our donor companies joined together to donate 204 stuffed backpacks to the Berwick Area School District elementary students. Led by Women in Nuclear at PPL, 1st Keystone Community Bank, Berwick Offray and Berwick Hospital collected donations of backpacks, school supplies and money to be sure our neediest children start out ready for school. The backpacks were given to children selected by the guidance counselors in the elementary schools.
Our VISTA worker, David Grey, left us in August and we were not able to get a VISTA worker for the current year due to a cut in the number of slots available in Pennsylvania. Before he left, David completed a tax site manual and a grant application to the IRS for funding of the 2011 tax site as well as a number of other projects.
As usual, our 2010 campaign started in September and kicked off on October 8th with breakfast at Maria Assunta and the theme of Live United. Our guest speakers at breakfast were Gail Menapace and Beth Cherwinski who talked about the importance of early childhood education in building a strong foundation for our children to succeed.
One of the highlights of the 2010 campaign was our first ever golf tournament sponsored by PPL. The event netted more than $49,000, a record for golf tournaments in this area. During dinner, Tim Rausch received a Tocqueville award for his generous personal support and Jeff Helsel accepted the lovely travelling school bus award on behalf of the Women in Nuclear Group for their backpack project. Many thanks to the PPL employees who planned such a great event and to their many contacts who were so generous.
In addition to over 30 employee presentations, campaign events included a PPL chili and dessert cook-off; a small business drawing for a Metrocast advertising package which was won by Vincent Daugustine and several Berwick Offray and Berwick Hospital dress down days and raffles.
Thanks to Cindy Lombard for chairing the Campaign Committee and to the many volunteers who worked on it and who are listed in the annual report. They are proud to announce that the final official campaign total is $372,567.57. A volunteer appreciation event will be held in the spring 2011 but staff and their spouses took the opportunity to thank donors and volunteers by handing out candy and cards during Victorian Nights December 11th in Berwick. More than 200 thank yous were given out.
In November, the new web site was unveiled. The new site can be updated by the staff and includes a calendar of events, changes in our thermometer, educational pieces on refund anticipation loans and how to evaluate a charity as well as announcements and news articles that reflect the wide variety of activities carried out by the Berwick Area United Way volunteers and staff.
Many projects continued throughout the year including the Saturday Soup Kitchen at the Salvation Army. Each week, one of seventeen volunteer groups from the Berwick area provided meals and fellowship opportunities for about 60 people from the Berwick area. A total of 829 people were served during the year, including Christmas Day. Many thanks to the volunteers who make this such a wonderful project. Giant Food Store and Dalo’s Bakery continued to donate baked goods which are given to guests at the Saturday meal.
Berwick Area United Way also continued to distribute the Familywize Prescription Assistance Card in the area. By the end of 2010, almost 22,000 county residents had saved more than $170,000 on their prescription drugs. The average savings was 23%. The cards are available at area pharmacies, at the BAUW office, on line and at a number of county social service agencies.
The Community Emergency Resource Fund (CERF) disbursed over $2,700 to 10 families for such emergencies as furnace repair, ceiling and floor repairs, appliances, and hot water heaters for families who needed a helping hand.
None of this would have been possible without the extensive help of the many volunteers, donors, businesses and residents who support the Berwick Area United Way. The list of thanks is too long to mention here but the names are in the annual report. Thank you to all of you for your support.