Happy New Year!

First of all like to take the opportunity to wish you good health and much prosperity in the new year.

Now, a little campaign update...
We are currently at 77% of our goal or $288,394. The good new is that there are so many areas that are up this year!

• We have almost $30,000 in new givers! -Some new companies like Baker's IGA, Best Heating & Air, & The Beacon. That's wonderful!
• We have so many places that have really increased their campaigns and made a substantial difference. The School division is over their goal by $1,671. The Public Employees Division is over by $1,757!
• We just received a donation -never received before- from the State Bar Association for $3,300!
• Many companies and/or groups have nearly doubled their totals from last year....Kraft Foods, Century National Bank, Auer Ace Hardware, Time Warner Cable. Lots of positives.
• Others with nice gains...Ohio Heritage Bank, Annin, Jones Metal, Buehlers, Chase, CASCO, Home Loan, WTNS, Dr. Erwin Family Eye Care.
• Unfortunately, this economy has been very hard on our big industry. The industry has been so good to us in the past, making up 67% of our campaign monies last year. To date the Industry division is down $40,721 over last years campaign total. This is understandable, but making it a real challenge on our end. We are still waiting on Clow, AK Steel, Novelty Advertising and Longaberger to come in to boost those numbers a bit.

I refuse to give up. We will tentatively close our campaign (although we NEVER stop taking money!) on January 30th, in order to prepare for the Annual Meeting held in February. That leaves us one more month to beat every bush out there. If you have any ideas on last push efforts, please let me know. We must make a difference when our community needs us most!