Pumpkin King, Movies and New Totals!

Thanks to Almir Salkic for this pumpkin version of the Champlain College logo. His pumpkin raised the most money in the change jar competition at the Human Resources Benefit Fair in Argosy Gym today. 

Main Street Landing Film Series to Benefit United Way in November

For the second year in a row, the Tuesday night free film series at Main Street Landing will support United Way for the entire month of November. The series kicks off with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, appropriately on Election Night!  On the following three Tuesday evenings in November, the audience will be treated to: The Red Shoes; The Wizard of Oz; and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  All shows start at 7 p.m. So mark you calendars and plan to join the fun, while supporting the United Way Community Campaign.

And happy to report the latest numbers on our campaign.

 As of 5 p.m. Thursday: 

85 pledges for $29,012 for an average gift of about $340!

And we are now at our 25% participation goal. Looks like we need another 85 pledges to hit the 50% participation goal for 2012. 

Visit Us at the Benefits Fair

Champlainers, here’s your mid-week reminder about the 2012 Champlain College Community Campaign.

We are in the second week of the October campaign to raise $35,000 with a goal of a 50% staff and faculty participation rate.

The great news is that we have a fresh total to report!

·         $25,417 pledged toward our goal of $35,000 – 72% of the way to the goal!

·         80 people for a 23.1% participation rate toward 50%.

In case you didn’t check the http://champlainunitedway.blogspot.com/ this week, the winner of the Apple iPad was Jean Marie Severance of the EHS office. Congratulations and thank you for your participation and pledge.

The next incentive raffle will be Friday, Oct. 19 at 5 p.m. for all pledges received.   

The Kennedy Rocker, donated by Spruce Mortgage Inc.

See the full list of prizes at http://champlainunitedway.blogspot.com/p/incentive-prizes.html.

You can turn your pledge cards into

Julie C. Richards,  Academic & Student Services Advisor, Perry Hall, 322 or

Drop them off with Human Resources at Lakeside Miller Center, Second Floor.

Don’t forget to visit the United Way table at the Human Resources & Organizational Development Fair:

Oct. 18, 11a.m.–2p.m., IDX Student Life Center.

Pledge cards, information about United Way and Volunteer Opportunities will be available.

ALSO: Pumpkin Carving Contest, Bring your carved or painted pumpkin between 9:30-11 a.m.

Place loose change into collection jars to vote for the winner at the Benefits Fair.

Prizes for best department/division and best individual pumpkin!

The proceeds will go toward the Champlain Community Campaign!

And save the date for the Staff Council “Starve a Vampire” Blood Drive on

Tuesday Oct. 30 in Hauke Conference Room 102, 10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Volunteers are still needed to help, contact Jenn Perlee, perlee@champlain.edu,  865-6453 if you would like to help. 

i-Pad Winner and Great Opening Week

Thanks to everyone who turned in their pledge cards by Friday afternoon  - we have received pledges of $22,642 from 73 people. One of our best starts ever to the Champlain College Community Fund.

• The 73 pledges represent a 21 percent participation rate - our goal is 50 percent. 
• The $22,642 pledged represents nearly 65 percent toward our goal of raising $35,000. 

And I am happy to announce that the first winner in our incentive raffle goes to Jean Marie Severance, operations manager in the Division of Education & Human Studies.

Check out our prizes page to see what else you can win by turning in your completed pledge card to Julie Richards in Perry Hall or at the Lakeside Miller Center Human Resources department.

Campaign Kickoff

Martha Maksym of United Way of Chittenden County. 

Martha Maksym, Executive Director of the United Way of Chittenden County spent a few minutes today at the Champlain College Town Hall talking about the community connections and importance of supporting United Way's work in the areas of Health, Education and Income.

Maksym's visit marked the official kick-off to the Champlain College Community Campaign 2012 that runs through October 31 on campus.  

To get things rolling, the Campaign offered an incentive to everyone who turned in their completed pledge cards by 5 p.m. a chance to win a new I-Pad. And the early number seem to support the effectiveness of the plan. 

We are happy to report that as of 5 p.m. Friday, we had 67 pledges in, totalling $21,902 toward our goal of $35,000. Participation was at 19.4 percent toward our goal of 50 percent. 

To those of you who have so generously given, our hearty thanks. To those of you still to give, we encourage you to turn your pledge in early, there are many more great incentive prizes that will be given away between now and Halloween. the earlier you turn in your pledge, the more chances to win.

We will announce the winner on Monday afternoon.  

Champlain Campaign to Run Oct. 9-31

Champlain’s “Let Us Dare to Help”
Community Campaign 2012 Begins 

Annual fundraising effort to support United Way of Chittenden County and Community Programs

The 2012 Champlain College Campaign will begin Tuesday, Oct. 9 and will get its official kick-off at the all-staff and faculty College Town Meeting on Friday. Oct. 12 at 8:15 a.m.  The College has set an ambitious goal of raising $35,000 with a participation rate of 50 percent in conjunction with the United Way of Chittenden County’s annual Community Fund Campaign.

  

Mascot Chauncey T. Beaver and Stephen Mease, public information and news director, are back for a third year co-chairing the Champlain College Community Campaign for one simple reason, they said, “We are confident that our fellow Champlainers will step up and help us achieve these goals. It is critical to helping serve those in need, especially in the areas of education, financial independence and healthy living.

”Pledge packets and information will be available online for download, at Lakeside's Humna Resources offices and at Perry Hall 350 in the Public Relations office. “We will also have them available Friday morning at Alumni Auditorium at Town Meeting. Everyone who turns in a completed pledge form by 5 p.m. that day will be eligible for the drawing to win one of our top prizes,” he said.

This year’s theme is “Let Us Dare to Help Our Community,” playing off the College’s official motto: Adeamus – Let Us Dare.

Last year, donations through the campaign raised nearly $30,000 with a participation rate of 41 percent. “We missed meeting our goal of $35,000 and 53% participation last year, but I think that was due to in part to all the fundraising efforts and concerns that followed the devastation of many communities by tropical storm Irene in Vermont,” Mease said. “We also are planning to make a greater effort to help educate folks about how the money is used and important work it enables with children, families, seniors and others.”

The overall 2012 United Way of Chittenden County campaign has set a goal of $3.85 million this year to provide vital funding to programs to organizations like the Committee on Temporary Shelter, King Street Center, Boys and Girls Club, the DREAM program, Visiting Nurse Association and Women Helping Battered Women, to name just a few.

A committee of staff and faculty are currently working on the final details of the Champlain Campaign, which will run from Oct. 9-31. As in year’s past, there will be special incentive raffles for those who make a pledge to the campaign. Prizes in the past have included an Apple I-Pad, an all access parking pass for Spring, ski passes, gift certificates, travel vouchers and more. Serving on the committee this year are:  Mary M. Lee, John Pelletier, Sarah Potter, Debra Dayman, Julie Richards, Melissa Hersh and Shelley Richardson.

“We know that Champlain faculty, staff and students daily step forward to demonstrate their giving spirit. It happens at campus blood drives; taking a pie in the face to help DREAM mentoring; sleeping out on Aiken Lawn during Tent City’s homeless awareness campaign in November, or volunteering countless hours to help children, the elderly and those in greatest need in Vermont. Making a financial contribution through payroll deduction or a one-time gift is another tangible way to help those in need,” Mease added.

Can’t make Friday’s Town Hall meeting? Download the pledge form from the blog and send it in to Julie Richards Box #11 or drop off at Perry Hall room 322 or with Debra Dayman at Lakeside Campus in the Human Resources Department. Be sure to keep a copy of the form for your tax records.

Again this year, we ask you to consider making your gift through payroll deduction. It’s the easiest way to give a little more than you might if you just wrote one check.  Pledges made during the fall campaign will begin in January 2013. Remember, you also have the option to designate your gift to the United Way Community Care Fund, a specific impact area, another United Way in Vermont, or a specific United Way agency.

·         Visit www.unitedway to learn more about specific programs and initiatives.

·         Visit http://champlainunitedway.blogspot.com/ for news about Champlain’s Campaign.

“Each and every gift, large or small, makes a real difference to those in need. A successful Champlain Campaign is an outward sign to the community that we care. Thank you for your participation and generous support!” Mease said.

Questions? Contact Steve Mease at smease@champlain.edu or call 865-6432. 

Campaign Final Numbers

Here's the final report on the numbers for the Champlain College United Way Campaign

• We received 141 pledges totalling $29,495 - down $5,005 from our $35,000 goal
• Participation was at 40.28 percent - the goal was to have 53 percent. 

We also drew the final names  and cleaned out the prize closet,. The winners are:

• David Provost -$50 Bookstore certificate
• Catherine Bergeron Radoux – Night Strangers book
• Diana Agusta - $25 at the Bearded Frog
• Rebecca Peterson - $25 Amazon Card
• Leigh Bouffard – CC Sweatshirt
• Christine Hutchins – 3 tickets to Essex Cinema
• Karen Patno – Two Tickets to Essex Cinema
• Andrew Burkhardt – Two Tickets t Essex Cinema
• Deana Higgs – Sustain Champlain Water Bottle. 

Thanks to everyone who supported the Campaign with a pledge, a donation to the incentive prizes and to those who offered encouraging words along the way. 

Steve Mease and Chauncey T. Beaver - Co-chairs

And the Committee - Sarah Potter, Julie Richards and Melissa Hersh. 

One of my favorite sayings from a wise Jedi knight  found in the Emergent Media Center. 

Campaign to Close Today

To the Champlain Community:

Chauncey and I have some good news and some not-so-good news to report about the Champlain College United Way Campaign.

First, we have raised $28,715 and we have about 40 percent of the 350 employees participating. That’s an average gift of $205. That’s the good news and we deeply thank those who have already given so generously. The not-so-good news is that our goal is $35,000 with 53 percent participation.

We’ve tried many ways of getting the word out, plenty of email reminders and even puppy pictures, but we are still considerably off the mark on meeting our goal this year. Anyone who has ever asked for money knows it can be awkward and a little uncomfortable, but you do it anyway for a good cause you believe in. However, when a fundraising effort struggles in the final stretch to meet its goal, it is hard to pinpoint the reason.

Here’s a few reasons Chauncey and I have come up with:

1. People are busy and just haven’t taken action on their good intentions. The pledge card is sitting under a pile of papers on their desk.

2. People are feeling overwhelmed. Maybe it is the economy making things tight all around and many people can’t quite give at their previous level. Or perhaps they can’t give at all.

3. People are already giving to specific causes. Vermonters were extremely generous in contributing to help those hit by flooding in the spring and tropical storm Irene in August. There are hundreds of organizations and causes asking for help, especially this time of year.

4. Some of Champlain’s longtime givers to United Way have recently retired or moved on to other opportunities.

5. Perhaps Chauncey and I haven’t done a great job in educating people about the many needs in our community and how a gift to United Way has a multiplier effect expanding giving through careful management and oversight of programs receiving funding. We have already vowed to do it better next year and are crafting some new strategies and ways to say thanks to those who give.

Lots of possible reasons, but we both agreed it is not that Champlainers don’t care. We see Champlain’s generous nature every day – The Staff Council set a new blood drive record a couple weeks ago and programs like DREAM and other community outreach programs earn support from staff, faculty and students alike. Campus food drives, students helping to rebuild flood-damaged homes and efforts like CSCE’s Tent City next week reinforce the College’s core values of encouraging community service and civic engagement.

So the Campaign will officially come to a close on Friday, Nov. 11. And we will probably not meet the goal this year. That’s an unusual occurrence at Champlain. My experience is if we say we are going to do something, we do it. We did it last year and beat the goal.

If you have been meaning to give, either through payroll deduction which begins in January or with a one-time tax deductible gift, now would be the time to take action. There is $6,285 left to raise – 62 people giving $100 each could do it or 124 people giving $50 or… well, you get the idea.

If you have already given, but would like to help close the gap with an additional gift, we would be most grateful.

Nothing would please Chauncey and I more than being able to report back to you that a surprise last-minute surge of giving brought us to the goal.

A downloadable pledge card is available at http://champlainunitedway.blogspot.com/. You can drop it off with Steve Mease at Lakeside or with Julie Richards at Perry 322.

Making a pledge could mean all the difference to families, children and others who need the services and help provided through the United Way programs. As the slogan says, “Give. Advocate. Volunteer. Live United” Today, the emphasis is on the “Give.”

Thank you for your kind attention and support!

NOTE: The winner of the campus parking pass is Peter Straube. The remainder of the incentive prizes will be drawn and announced Friday afternoon.