November 2009

Dear Friends:

We have so much to be thankful for this year. Our friends in the community have given back so much:

• Everyone in our community who is supporting the United Way Community Giving Campaign by offering payroll deduction giving at their place of work
• Campaign Co-Chairs, Clarke Heidrich and Jeff Hahn
• Our 1 Hour For Kids partners, volunteers, sponsors Thompson and Knight, and Ranjana Thomas for producing our 1 Hour For Kids video
• Our Speaker Series sponsors, volunteers and guests, and co-chairs Mary Scott, Lynn Nabors and Craig Hester
• The Success By 6 Challenge Grant from the Buena Vista Foundation
• Lowe's Home Improvement and other supporters for sponsoring and building the new Born Learning Trail
• The 800 volunteers who signed up to help with the HEB Feast of Sharing.
• United Way's executive leadership volunteers

• Family Volunteer Day, Saturday, November 21, 2009
• Volunteer Project Leader Training, Tuesday, December 1, 2009
• Success By 6 Challenge Grant -- you too can participate in a BIG way...
• It's never too late to join the United Way Community Giving Campaign!

I want all of our friends and supporters to have a wonderful, safe, holiday season. We will be taking a break over the holidays to upgrade United Way Capital Area's monthly newsletter to better serve our readers. Look for us in the new year, and don't forget to add these 2010 events to your calendar:

• Student Dropout Summit: Friday, January 15, 2010
• MLK Day of Service: Saturday, January 16, 2010
• Live United Film Series, January 2010
• Spring Day of Caring: April 2010

Take care,

Debbie Bresette
Interim President and CPO

Thanks to Thompson & Knight's sponsorship of a new video for 1 Hour For Kids, Central Texans can now hear and see the impact mentoring and tutoring a middle school student can have. Credits and thanks go to Ranjana Thomas for producing the video, and to Sara Hickman for permission to use her music.

Click here to learn more about
1 Hour For Kids, and begin volunteering!

Despite current economic conditions, our corporate and community partners continue to impress with their dedication of connecting workplace resources to the community, both in volunteerism and giving. The United Way Community Giving Campaign is underway and kicked-off with a record-setting Day of Caring on September 11. The momentum has continued through October and November with over 150 organizations participating in workplace giving campaigns, helping United Way raise millions of dollars for the Central Texas community. Below are just a few highlights from this fall's campaign.

• Congratulations to Baker Botts L.L.P., H-E-B, IBM, National Instruments, Nordstrom, Texas Gas Service, Texas Mutual Insurance, and Wells Fargo Bank in raising more contrubtions than last year. These six companies have collectively raised more than $3,542,000 through employee and corporate contributions.
• Local companies remain committed to educating and engaging employees about community issues. National Instruments hosted a Young Technology Professionals Education Forum coordinated by United Way Capital Area on October 29. The forum comprised of leading Central Texas education experts and community leaders discussing the state of this critical issue in our community. Attendees learned about the issues facing our education system and what organizations such as E3 Allianec, Breakthrough and United Way are doing to ensure every child in our community is prepared for success. Special thanks to National Instruments (NI) for hosting, Scott Studer, NI for moderating and the following panelists for participating in the forum:
  • Dr. Hannah Gourgey, Director of Analysis and Alignment, E3 Alliance
  • Ms. Martha Smiley, of Counsel, Winstead PC
  • Ms. Sue Carpenter, Director, Community Development, United Way Capital Area
  • Dr. Barry Aidman, Executive Director, Breakthrough
  • Dr. Brenda Hummel, Director, ACCESS Grant, Austin Independent School District

United Way is uniquely positioned to bring best-in-class issue area experts to your company for campaign and community engagement. For more information or to set up a panel/forum at your organization contact Nikki Krueger at nikki.krueger@unitedwaycapitalarea.org or 382-8611.

It's never too late to join the United Way Community Giving Campaign. To learn more about how your organization and employee's can get involved visit us online, click here, or contact Lauren Paver, Director of Corporate Relations at lauren.paver@unitedwaycapitalarea.org or 225-0393.