United Way Announced New Goal

 The Tulsa Area United Way volunteer Board of Directors has approved a goal of $23,898,673 for its 2009 fundraising campaign that officially kicks off Friday, September  11, 2009. Don Walker, President of ARVEST and 2009 Campaign Chair, announced the goal following a meeting of the Board early this morning.

  "As we prepare for the annual campaign, we see both challenges and opportunities ahead," said Walker. "The volunteer-led Campaign Cabinet has been hard at work assessing the community's overall economic climate. In spite of the current economic difficulties, we are confident that area companies and citizens will once again generously step forward to help their families, friends and neighbors through their gifts to the Tulsa Area United Way. Our 63 partner agencies' programs are seeing greatly increased needs and your help is even more important in times like these."

  Walker said the Campaign Cabinet has spent the past five months carefully assessing last year's campaign, evaluating the economic climate while building a strong volunteer base. "In developing this year's goal, we have reviewed the state of the local economy and the ever increasing needs of the six-county area," Walker said. "With our remarkable campaign team and the support of all of our communities, we will do our best to not only meet, but hopefully exceed the $23.89 million goal."

  "In the last five months, over 200 volunteers contributed more than 8,000 hours to assess each of the 63 agencies' funding requests and determine the best investment strategy for funds raised by the 2009 campaign," said Bill Grant, President of The Holmes Organization and 2009 TAUW Board of Directors Chair. "The resulting recommendation is balanced with input from the Community Investments Steering Committee, the Campaign Cabinet and TAUW's Board of Directors."

  "The Tulsa area has a remarkable history of stepping forward in economically challenging times to help its residents," said Mark R. Graham, TAUW President and CEO. "TAUW has an amazing 85 year history in this community and has invested over $545 million in those 85 years. We know that the demand for our agencies has increased dramatically in 2009 and we all need to do our best to ensure that those needs are met."

  "In addition to a historically strong base of companies who conduct campaigns every year, last year we welcomed 198 new campaigns, most of which are small and growing businesses. There is the potential for many more businesses of all sizes to run first time campaigns," Graham said. "We will work to ensure that everyone – companies, organizations and individuals - is a part of this community-wide effort."

  The Tulsa Area United Way provides services to more than 740,000 annually through its 63 partner agencies in Creek, Okmulgee, Osage, Rogers, Wagoner and Tulsa counties and is celebrating its 85th anniversary. For more information, call TAUW at 583-7171 or visit www.tauw.org.