Twenty-five enthusiastic MEM volunteers pitched in during the United Way Day of Caring on September 7, 2018, in Columbia. The event started with an all-volunteer kick-off event, which also symbolized the beginning of the United Way’s community-wide fundraising campaign. With MEM as the event’s breakfast sponsor, United Way’s Executive Director Andrew Grabau announced the community campaign’s fundraising goal to be $3.6 million this year; however, it was amazing to learn Pacesetter companies whose campaigns had already begun to raise money – like MEM – had already raised over $900,000 toward the campaign’s total. Way to go!
Although a bit rainy outside, our volunteers shared nothing but sunshine while volunteering at three separate United Way-funded charities:
- The Food Bank – Employees Heather, Kristen, Sheila, Ashley, Tisha, Lynn, Marva and Linda volunteered to repackage bulk food and in the end the group of over 50 finished over 15,000 pounds. That’s a lot of macaroni.
- First Chance For Children – Employees Revee, Kate, Melissa, Jessi, Missy, Julie, Kevin, Brandy and Amber volunteered to repackage diapers, clean the Lend & Learn Library, and clean out their garage. These volunteers repackaged enough diapers to last one child for an entire year.
- Love, Inc. – Employees Kellie, Tiffany, Josie, Therese, Jennifer, Shannon, Dan and Debbra volunteered to move 10 tons of gravel and a lot of weeding outdoors. This may sound like a daunting task, but the group knocked out all of their tasks before the lunch hour! Impressive!
The United Way Day of Caring saw about 200 volunteers from many different businesses, all focused on one thing: providing a caring service to those who work hard to serve the underserved in our community.
The MEM Columbia office raised a total of $68,530 for the Heart of Missouri United Way’s 2018 Campaign, surpassing the 2017 total of $65,648! Representatives came by MEM last week to celebrate our status as a pacesetter for this year’s campaign. Thank you to all who donated and volunteered!
