When Tami Bock seeks donations for the United Way of Central Missouri 2015 fundraising campaign, she will talk about Ronnie Vieth, a longtime employee of Capitol Projects Inc., a Jefferson City sheltered workshop for disabled adults.
Bock, the agency's executive director, wants to tell how Vieth worked there for 46 years, assembling transformer equipment for power and automation technologies company ABB. After he retired a year ago, Vieth used items at his group home to simulate the work he performed for so long.
That was one way Bock realized how meaningful Capitol Projects was to him. And when Vieth passed away, she saw more.
At his February funeral, Bock said Vieth was buried with some of his workplace belongings - an apron, his lunchbox, pictures with work friends and a coin purse he carried daily with 35 cents in it for an orange soda.
"I came away happy and pleased we had made a difference in his life, and knowing we do in other people's too," Bock said.
By telling Vieth's story, Bock hopes to emphasize how vital United Way funding is for her agency and its employees.
Stories like Vieth's illustrate lives impacted by United Way, which touches 50 percent of people in Mid-Missouri, according to Stephanie Johnson, executive director at Boysan Girls Club of the Capital City. She added she often speaks about her elderly father, who was able to live at home before he died thanks to Homemaker Health Care, another United Way partner agency.
The theme for this year's campaign is "Changing the Reality," Johnson told more than 30 people from United Way partner agencies gathered Thursday for the Speaker's Bureau Breakfast.
Johnson said recent United Way campaigns have given buddy packs to more than 1,000 children in Jefferson City Public Schools, assisted 107 fire and flood victims, served 34,000 meals to more than 200 homebound seniors and provided hot meals to 765 youth in Boys and Girls Club.
"Those of us who work in agencies know the reality for some is different than reality for others," Johnson said. "And for some people, reality may be needing a home or a warm meal, and for others it's finding a promising future, a safe haven from domestic violence or assistance with a crisis such as a flood or a house fire. Reality means dealing with the unexpected challenges that life can bring, and the United Way and our partner agencies work daily to change the reality for our neighbors here in Jefferson City."
Many present at the breakfast were agency executive directors who will represent their organizations in the campaign. United Way leaders offered presentation guidelines and tips to promote "changing the reality" through reality TV-themed fundraisers. The organization already has scheduled two: Mid-Missouri's Got Talent on Sept. 1 and Rock, Paper, Scissors Sole Survivor Challenge Finale on Sept. 24. For additional information on these events and important fundraising dates, go to www.newstribune.com.
Pacesetters, a group of 30 businesses, will kick off the first campaign's phase on July 20, President Ann Bax said. Last year, pacesetters raised more than $831,000 of the $1,809,787 campaign total. The pacesetter campaign ends Aug. 21, and its pledges will be announced Sept. 3 at the community campaign kickoff event.
There's a correlation between the two campaigns, Bax said.
"The positive energy that pacesetters put into the campaign, it just goes and has an effect," Bax said. "If the community sees these positive, energetic campaigns, then they can model their campaigns off of that. ... When we see momentum build with the pacesetters, we feel that the community is going to follow suit."
Workplace rallies are key, she added, because individuals can take out a set amount each paycheck if they choose, and those smaller amounts add up.
"The strategy is truly to reach your average citizen, who can give maybe a dollar per paycheck," Bax said. "It's truly a grassroots campaign in that that's the strength of our campaign - individual giving."