Volunteer of the Month

Duane Stutzman (Pictured above (Left) with T.J. Wright, 2nd grader at Keene Elem.), December’s United Way Volunteer of the Month!

Duane Stutzman, who volunteers for the Tutoring, Learning & Contributing program (TLC) has been named the United Way of Coshocton County Volunteer of the Month for December. Stutzman was nominated by Kathy Raber, Keene TLC Supervisor.

Duane Stutzman has been a TLC tutor at Keene Elementary for 2 years. He is a junior at River View High School. When Duane arrives at tutoring, he is the one everyone (tutors and students) looks up to. “From the time he hits the door until the end of each session, he always has a smile on his face, energy that is contagious. He is always positive and ready to do whatever is asked of him,” states Raber. The word “no” is not in his vocabulary. Because he is so committed to the program, his students work really hard to get a high five, “good job” or just a smile out of Duane. He strives every week to bring out the best in everyone. According to Raber, Stutzman is a great mentor for everyone he touches. Raber feels he is a true blessing to the TLC program. “We are so lucky to have Duane in our program. He is such a dedicated and caring young adult. When I think of T.L.C, I think of Duane and smile,” states Raber.

In addition to his work with T.L.C., Stutzman has dedicated over 100 hours of service to the Coshocton Hospital, he helps with the youth program at his church, is a Junior Leader, a Jr. Fairboard member, and helps with the Higher Hopes auction. He enjoys helping backstage with the school drama department. He has also been known to help disabled children at the Christmas program, help clean up the park after the big storm, and help friends and neighbors with anything that needs done. Stutzman is the son of Mary and Nelson Stutzman and has two sisters Lisa and Marium.

T.L.C. is a free, after-school tutoring program that matches volunteer Jr. and Sr. High School students with elementary students. There are currently 13 T.L.C. sites throughout the county. For more information regarding enrolling a student or becoming a volunteer, contact Katrina Havranek, county coordinator at 622-2924.

On behalf of the Board of United Way of Coshocton County, Inc., I would like to congratulate and thank Duane Stutzman for being recognized as a person in our community who is willing to volunteer his time and talents to the community. Give. Advocate. Volunteer. LIVE UNITED.

The Night Before Christmas -United Way style

Tis’ the night before Christmas
And all through the house,
The cats are not stirring
Thank God there’s no mouse.

When out on the roof
Arose such a clatter
I pulled on my sweats
To see what was the matter.

I threw open the window
Drew up my gaze
To see a sight
That did shock and amaze.

Out on the roof
With a thump on the snow
Landed a sleigh and a driver
Sporting a United Way logo!

His smile was merry
His features so bright
I knew in a second
He was our hero tonight.

As I drew in my hand,
And was turning around
Down the chimney our Hero
Came with a bound.

I stood quite still
When he landed so slow
And asked him quite simply
Why the UWay Logo?

His eyes, how they twinkled
His dimples so merry
He answered quickly
And did not tarry.

“Tis the season of giving,
of love and of sharing.
What better way to
Show we are caring?

Than to give to the needy,
Provide for the poor
United Way does that,
And so much more.

With problems so great
In our world today
It gives me hope
To see United Way…

Address the issues
Our communities face
To find solutions
With dignity and grace.”

Laying a finger
Aside of his nose
With a wink and a smile
Up the chimney he rose

I knew it was Santa
That jolly old elf
Who cared about this world
More than himself.

I heard him exclaim
As he flew out of sight
“Give to United Way &
May your holidays be bright!”

Half Way There!

I am happy to announce that we are officially half way to our $375,000 goal!

Congratulations to the Schools Division! They were the first group to hit and exceed their goal!
This year the schools have brought in $28,658.96!

Here's where the others are ranked as of today...

Goal; Total raised; % of Goal
Public Employees $20,000; $19,908; 99.5% -Only $92 away!
Retiree $10,000; $ 3,399; 94%
Professional $23,000; $21,025; 91.4 %

Special Gifts (500+) $23,000; $19,120; 83%
Retail/Small Business $45,000; $36,033; 80%
Agribusiness $5,000; $3,790; 75%
Industrial $221,000; $28,502; 13%

We need you! If you haven't given, please consider helping out. Those struggling need us more now than ever. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 84 or donate online by going to our website at http://www.coshoctonunitedway.org/. Thank you!

Ace IS the place!

A big Thank You goes out to Auer Ace Hardware, their employees and their customers!

For every gallon on Benjamin Moore paint sold in the month of October,

Auer Ace Hardware donated $5.00 to the United Way.

Customers bought 168 gallons of paint in October,

totalling $840 in donations to the United Way!

Thanks to Ace for this promotion and

to all of you who chose to get that painting done in October!

Pictured above are Tom Edwards and AmyTaylor.

Kraft is committed!

Kudos to the Coshocton Kraft Foods plant. This group joined hands and collected $12,863 for this years' United Way campaign! That is a little more than double what they did last year! Thank you Kraft employees for your contributions and dedication to helping your friends and neighbors in Coshocton County!

Here's just a few of the Kraft employees proud to be a part of it all.

Thanks also to the supervisors and plant Campaign Manager Arturo Jauregui for scheduling the 37 meetings we had to let Kraft employees know about the great things that the United Way does. This was time well spent! LIVE UNITED!

We now pause for this commercial break...

Hopewell has fun!

Hopewell School finished up their campaign with a day of drawings. They offered incentives for employees who gave. One of those was a special "United Way Parking Place."

Another prize was an extra personal day off of work. Who wouldn't like that?

And lots of miscellaneous prizes. Thanks to everyone at Hopewell for your support!

Chase Chips In

Chase employees got in the United Way spirit this week. In addition to running their internal campaign, Friday they hosted a luncheon for employees and guests. It was a great lunch with soups, sandwiches and yummy desserts. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Thermometer

The thermometers are up! Thanks to the great guys at Smurfit Stone Container, you can keep up with our progress by checking out one of thermometers at displayed at the entrance to Conesville, the WTNS lot in Coshocton, at the Home Loan lot in West Lafayette or coming out of Wal-Mart in the Hopewell school lot. Thanks to all of these places for letting us display!

I hope we get to see this thermometer in motion!

Results are coming in...

It's that busy time in the United Way campaign when campaign packets are rolling right in.

We are currently at 30 %! To date we have raised $111,712!

If you have not been asked to give, please contact our office. (Or donate online at http://www.coshoctonunitedway.org/) In these tough times, our campaign is as important as ever! The needs are great and are programs are helping to make a difference to the lives our our friends and neighbors in Coshocton County! Any donation you can make is most appreciated!

In addition to the 20 amazing agencies we support and work with all year around,

the United Way is also making a difference in our community with these programs:

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

This program is being introduced to Coshocton County children from birth to 5 years old. Each month a new, carefully selected book will be mailed in your child's name directly to your home. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a FREE GIFT to our children. Registration forms can be picked up at the United Way office, both libraries, Maternal/Child Health Clinic, the WIC office and the Help ME Grow office.

Familywize Discount Prescription Card Program

Anyone that has a prescription that is not being covered by insurance, Medicare or Medicaid is encouraged to pick up a Discount Card from your United Way office. No personal information is needed to receive the card and one card is good for an entire family. The average savings from these cards is 25%. Since United Way started this program in April of 2007, Coshocton County residents have saved over $27,000! Call our office for more details. 622-4567.

United Way of Coshocton County is making a difference in our community. Please contact the office if you have any questions or would like to volunteer with any of our programs.

The great group of employees over at the Coshocton County Board of Health collectively put together a lovely luncheon to raise funds for the United Way.

Employees from the building and all over came to enjoy the great soups, breads and desserts.

Thank you to this group for all of your hard work and to everyone who came to support their efforts!

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross of Coshocton County put on their first Armed Services Ball this past Saturday night at the Coshocton Armory. The event was very well attended and was a delightful evening.

The evening highlighted the services that the Red Cross provides to the families of military. Red Cross is the only means to contact a solideir in the case of an emergency.

The Coshocton Hospital (Dave Powers & crew) served a delightful meal.

And the Coshocton Big Band entertained the guest with great music. Congratulations to the Red Cross and it's volunteers who put on a very nice fundraising event.

CASCO

Amie Bair is the United Way's Employee Campaign Manager at Classic Auto Supply this year. She is getting everyone in the campaign spirit by filling their stomachs. Each Friday, employees have had the opportunity to buy lunch at work with the profits going to CASCO's United Way campaign. Here's a picture of Amie (right) and one of CASCO's owners, Betsy Brown (left), serving up some delicious spaghetti.

School campaigns are going strong this year. Here are a few pictures of what is being done in the city schools.

South Lawn Elementary had a pumpkin decorating contest. Students and faculty can vote on their favorite pumpkin by using their change. Check out these awesome pumpkins...

Way to go!

At Central Elementary this neat display was on the art door.

The Students and teachers got in the campaign spirit by a fun game of volleyball. Students who donated to the United Way to take their shot at beating the teachers on this beautiful fall afternoon! What a fun way to LIVE UNITED!

Kick Off

The 2008-09 was kicked off by another great event. The "Taste of Coshocton County" was held on August 28th at the Lake Park Pavilion. Thanks to a great Kick Off committee, the hard working partner agencies, a fantastic group of board members and 500 of our community members, the event was a true success!

18 food vendors from around our county showed off their favorite foods.

Entertainment was provided by the Union Recreation Cheerleaders...Union Spirit. They rallied the crowd with United Way cheers. What cuties!

Miss Jennifer's Elite Dance Force strutted their stuff and danced their way into many hearts. What talented groups we had that night!

14 Longaberger baskets were given to 14 lucky participants in the basket raffle. Each agency creatively designed a basket and filled it with tons of great items.

The evening was a huge success! We raised over $4,000 in one evening, but more important, we came together as a community to kick off the campaign and Live United!

August First Fridays

Last Friday night was the First Friday event in downtown Coshocton. This has grown into such a wonderful family activity in our community.

With our annual Kick Off just around the corner, we took this opportunity to show off some of our 14 Longaberger baskets we will be raffling off at the event.

I'll try to get some up close pictures of these basket in the near future so you can check them out!

We also handed out free popcorn and bottles of water to those passing by. We had some of our wonderful board members there to help out with the event. This is a great night to talk with fellow community members and work together as a team to make such a pleasant night for Coshocton.

We even had the Mayor stop by and join us for some jump rope. He was really quite good!

What a great night! I hope to see you at the September First Friday Event!

Quite a donation!

The United Way of Coshocton was blessed this spring to get an unusual donation. A donor, who has asked to stay annonymous, donated a mobile home to the United Way. His mother had passed away and he hadn't been able to sell it. He wanted to move on with life, so he decided to gift it to us. We in turn, contracted with Peddicord Rice Auction Realty and held an auction. The trailer sold on June 30th for $21,000!

Needless to say we are thrilled! A huge THANK YOU goes out to the generous family who donated the home, to Peddicord Rice for bringing great results, the Coshocton Tribune for some great press on the event and to everyone who turned out that evening to show your support. The home sold to a nice family that is going to move it onto their property in order to move their elderly parents closer to them. This was a win-win-win situation for everyone involved.

If you have something different that you would like to donate to the United Way, give us a call!

We did it!

Thank you Coshocton! I know it's been a long time since I've blogged and I apologize. However, we have been working hard to pull together our community and achieve our goal! Thank you to all of those board members, division chairs and volunteers who worked so hard to make this happen. To date we are at 102.1% of our goal. -Raising $383,040.03! That's awesome!!

Last week we had our Annual Meeting and Awards Presentations. It was very well attended (especially being a very cold early morning.) We recognized all of our generous supporters along with thanking our 2007-08 Corporate Sponsor Jeff Drennen Dealerships. Smurfit Stone Containers was named, for the 8th year in a row, the Top Giver with pledges over $78,000.

We also were excited to announce the 2008-09 Corporate Sponsor: Ohio Heritage Bank. We are thrilled to have them on board and are looking forward to a great year of working together.