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Local United Way gets new president

By Allison Brophy Champion, published in Culpeper Star-Exponent, July 26, 2008

Piedmont United Way has a new board president.

Frank Rivinus, 61, of Boston, Va., has a couple of priorities for the service organization - to grow support and maintain it.

Rivinus hopes to broaden PUW's contribution base in the coming year, a process he said PUW Director Jack Garber and a United Way committee have already started.

"My second priority is to continue the ongoing efforts of the Piedmont United Way with existing partners to maximize the results of the efforts of both in our service to the community."

Garber, director since last May, estimated the current year's campaign contributions would stand at about $450,000 by Sept. 19. That's when a new yearly campaign - with a goal of $500,000 - will begin.

PUW provides support for 41 health and human services organizations in the five-county area including, Services to Abused Families, Hospice of the Rapidan and the Culpeper Literacy Council.

Garber said the board's leadership is in good hands.

"Frank is great - he has been very active since coming on the board in 2006," Garber said, also mentioning Rivinus' involvement at the committee level.

Rivinus considered it a compliment that the rest of the board would trust him to act as president on their behalf as he considers an expanded approach to fundraising.

Traditionally, United Way concentrates its efforts on gaining support from large businesses, Rivinus said.

"I have a broader view in that I believe that rather than concentrating on a few large contributors, we need to expand that to a lot of small contributors," he said. "Large contributors are wonderful, but if they drop out, that really hurts. . That is a roundabout way of saying why we need to broaden our support base."

Rivinus supports PUW because it helps people in his community. That's the same reason others should support it, he said.

"We all live and most of us work in the Piedmont area and you mentioned hard times," said Rivinus, a systems analyst at SWIFT. "Hard times can happen to anybody at any time for any number of reasons. The United Way supports partners who have dedicated themselves to assisting people who have come into difficulties for whatever reason."

Giving locally offers Piedmont-area residents "the biggest bang" for their dollar, he said.

At last week's meeting, the board also appointed Larry Huntsman of Locust Grove vice chairman, Dr. Emerson Smith of Rectortown treasurer and Marie Davis of Washington secretary.

Brenda Tanner, superintendent of Madison County Public Schools, also joined the board.



A community that cares

By Allison Brophy Champion, published in Culpeper Star-Exponent, October 4, 2007

Richard Walrond holds a board while fellow Tyco employee Buck Page operates the saw while constructing a new rear deck at the Orange County home of Ken and Dot Boyd for the Piedmont United Way's annual Day of Caring. (Staff Photo, Vincent Vala)

There was nothing random about the acts of kindness taking place across the region Tuesday and Wednesday.

The good deeds were purposeful and planned and part of Piedmont United Way's annual Day of Caring.

More than 30 businesses and service groups participated in 20 different projects, paying it forward in the counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Orange, Madison and Rappahannock.

Wachovia Bank employees planted trees at the Culpeper Sports Complex. A team from Tyco Electronics helped repair and improve an elderly couple's home in rural Orange County. The Red Cross held two blood drives in Culpeper alone with Mason-Dixon Funding providing snacks for donors.

Over in the kitchen of the Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board on Bradford Road, seven employees from Horizon Milling - a flour mill off Route 3 - packed "emergency" meals for the area's elderly.

Paying it forward More than 30 businesses and groups participated in 20 community service projects in the area Tuesday and Wednesday as part of this year's Day of Caring, an annual community service initiative of Piedmont United Way. In Culpeper, here's a look at some of the good works: Wachovia Bank employees planted 16 trees at the Culpeper County Sports Complex; A team from Horizon Milling packed hundreds of emergency meals for homebound seniors; Tyco Electronics workers did home repairs for an elderly couple in Orange County; The Red Cross hosted numerous blood drives; Wal-Mart donated sweatpants to be sent by Operation First Response to troops in Iraq.

"These are for the homebound seniors who we might not be able to get to when it's snow or ice," said Marian Taliaferro, kitchen supervisor. "Winter is coming."

Four days a week every week, the RRSCB kitchen crew members prepare hot lunches for the region's five senior centers - cranking out 160 meals per day. The agency also prepares and then delivers a week's worth of frozen meals - and one hot meal - for another 260-plus senior citizens who are homebound and on limited budgets.

But what happens when winter weather strikes and drivers can't make it out to deliver the food? Not to worry, the RRCSB has plan in place to tide them over with enough food for a day.

The Horizon Milling team packed these "emergency" meals in earnest Wednesday morning, filling brown paper bags with one of four menus.

Some seniors will get spaghetti and meat sauce with green beans and a pudding cup. Others will receive beef stew with peas, applesauce and crackers. Another menu combination offers chicken and dumplings with green beans, raisins and a granola bar. Everyone gets juice and powdered milk.

Taliaferro said they would begin delivering the ready-made meals to their seniors over the next few weeks.

"This is very important because a lot of them don't get something to eat if we don't come," said Ethel Bache, who's helped manage the meals-on-wheels-type program for 17 years. "Some are not able to get out and can't cook for themselves. Most live alone."

Ken Burns, a supervisor at Horizon Milling, said his staff jumped at the opportunity to help out. In fact, a lot more volunteered than were actually needed. mill executives encourage community service, Burns added, to the extent that each employee gets one paid day off per year to give back.

Though his company has an established community service program, this was the first year Horizon Milling participated in Day of Caring.

"We want to do more team building opportunities," he said. "Because it comes through in the workplace and this gives us all a change to interact."

Judy Green, a lab technician at Horizon Milling, said she had been thinking about getting more involved with volunteer work when the Day of Caring opportunity came her way.

"I just thought this would be a great way to help out the community," she said. "It makes me feel good."

The recipient of an act of kindness, likewise, gains immensely. "My grandmother used to participated in this," Burns said, "and she looked forward to it."

It's not just the food that the seniors look forward to. It's the interaction and conversation that comes along with it as well.

United Way director Jack Garber envisions raising $1 million (CulpeperTimes Staff Photo/Raymond Thompson)

Portage County was in trouble, poor and full of need. The newscaster announced before a national audience that Portage was the most economically depressed part of the country.

Fund-raising in such an environment seemed unlikely. But Garber turned that to his advantage. Every door he knocked on, every donor he called, heard about the newscast. Donations shot up 10 percent, the largest in that United Way's history.
" You have to get the word out," he says of the experience. "You have to make them more aware."
Now years later Garber, 54, has stepped in as Executive Director of the Piedmont United Way. From his Culpeper office, Garber says he can do the same for the Piedmont region.

"I've reviewed our giving records, and I would have to say that we have the potential here to raise $1 million," Garber said. "We just have to reach out to those who aren't giving yet."

Bold words for a United Way that recently fell short of its $500,000 goal, forcing some painful, across-the-board cuts.

The non-profit - with an outreach in Culpeper, Madison, Fauquier, Orange and Rappahannock counties - is facing some challenges.

Officials point to commuting as a major problem. Donors often give where they work; 40 percent of Culpeper's workforce commutes to Northern Virginia. Mass mailings in the past few years have helped extend the PUW's reach, but donors remain unreached.

Add to that the increase in demands. Many of the Piedmont's new residents moved south for their retirement. An aging population will challenge local organizations years down the road.

But Garber says the potential for a better United Way is there. So are the needs.

"There are a lot of people that are living on the poverty borderline," Garber said. "And that's people of all stages of life. Also, we have an aging population in this area that we have to be especially concerned about - people who have to decide whether they're going to pay for rent, or pay for their medications."

Either way, the PUW's new goal will likely exceed $500,000. Exactly how much remains to be seen.

"We have enormous potential for giving in this area," Garber said. "There 's a lot of employers, and the United Way typically raises funds through employer campaigns, but there's an awful lot that we haven't reached into yet.

"Also in this area there 's a tremendous amount of wealth that hasn't been tapped into for local human services. There's huge needs, we just have to reach out and serve them."

Garber stressed more direct mailings and media attention. Partnerships with federal agencies like the Post Office, the local Social Security office and the Library of Congress remain possibilities.

But the current Fairfax resident believes that his experience makes him qualified to tackle the challenges.

The Piedmont position marks Garber's third time as Executive Director, first in Ohio, and then in Wisconsin.

His father, a Jeffersonton resident, once served as the PUW's campaign chair. His father also spent 39 years within the United Way when Garber was growing up, making the non-profit seem more like a family business. Garber's daughter Gwynn even works in the Chicago United Way.

"I think we people see him work they know he believes what he's doing," said Leigh Herrington, who served as President of the United Way in Ohio. "There's just a way about him, people want to do what's right."

Garber wants more than right. He wants the area's issues taken care of.

Transportation for the needy, homelessness, illiteracy...Garber sees issues that need tackling.

"I like to develop leadership in others," Garber said. "And I think the leadership exists in this community for the United Way to step up."

Tribute to Donors Giving Through CVC and CFC

On behalf of our clients, Piedmont United Way would like to express its gratitude to all those who have given to PUW through the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC) and the Combined Federal Campaigns (CFC). The CVC and CFC are the annual workplace giving campaigns for employees of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the federal government respectively.

In fiscal year 2005 - 2006, the CVC and CFC raised a combined total of $73,339 for PUW. This is a significant part of the PUW annual campaign. It helps to provide both unrestricted funding and designated funding that we use to strengthen PUW's existing services. We are grateful for the generosity of government employees for their commitment to the Piedmont United Way and to the Piedmont area.

If you would like to know more about either of these campaigns, you can visit their web sites at: cvc.vipnet.org or www.opm.gov/cfc