United Way sets fund-raising goal at $1 million

If they can do it once, they'll do it again.

The 2004 campaign goal for the United Way of Southeast Missouri was revealed at the organization's 50th birthday party and campaign kickoff Thursday afternoon. In 2003, the United Way set its goal at $935,000, but in a record-breaking campaign raised over $1 million. So this year, the organization set that figure as its goal.

Campaign chairman Mike Smythe said the 2004 campaign begins with $70,000 already raised toward that $1 million goal.

"Our community has the capacity to give a great deal and they have never let us down," Smythe said.

Since 1954, volunteers have raised a total of $14 million, according to information provided by the United Way office. Today the agency supports over 40 programs in 32 agencies in Southeast Missouri. This year the community of Marble Hill has been added to the United Way of Southeast Missouri, which also includes Jackson, Scott City and Perryville, as well as Cape Girardeau.

Director Nancy Jernigan said the United Way will continue to focus on agencies that assist families, a goal the United Way set for itself during the 2003 campaign.

"If you strengthen one family at a time, it has a ripple effect over the entire community," Jernigan said.

Volunteers will have an opportunity to help by becoming involved with the participating agencies, she said, as well as by raising money to support them.

That kind of interaction benefits the volunteers and those they are helping. Jack Smart of Teen Challenge International Mid-America said his group became affiliated with the United Way about five years ago.

"When we first joined, it was for the money," said Smart, who is director of the organization that counsels men with drug and alcohol addiction.Teen Challenge currently has 140 enrolled in its 10-month program, Smart said. In previous years, an average of 95 stayed there.

"The money has been a help," he said. "We have gained as much or more from the relationships we developed and the knowledge we gained and the encouragement we received from our involvement with the United Way."

Smart referred to the Bible to sum up how his organization regards the United Way.

"King Solomon said it best when he said two are better than one. Pity the man who falls and has no one to help him," Smart said. "That's one of the great things about the United Way, people coming behind other people and helping lift one another up."

More than 150 companies in the Southeast Missouri area hold United Way campaigns in their work places, offering payroll deduction as one way to contribute. Thousands of others participate through individual gifts.

Because it was a birthday party that kicked off the campaign year, the atmosphere at Cape West 14 Cine was festive. Ruth Sauerbrunn-Winstead popped out of a "cake" and, dressed as Marilyn Monroe in the white halter-top dress from the movie, "The Seven Year Itch," she performed "Happy Birthday" in the breathy, sensuous style Monroe sang it to President John F. Kennedy. She followed with another Marilyn Monroe classic, "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend." Jerry Ford and his Dixieland Combo kept the atmosphere lively with their music.

The United Way will celebrate the end of its campaign Dec. 4.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160