LIVING UNITED in Erie County

1st Annual Silent Purse Auction for Women In Action

Submitted by Jennifer_DobbsWoods on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 4:44pm

WHO doesn't love a purse? Better yet, who doesn't love more than one to coordinate with your outfit? On March 2, 2010, after the 3rd Annual Meeting of Women In Action, the 1st Annual Silent Purse Auction will be held.

Kate Spade. Coach. Liz Claiborne. Dooney & Burke. Beijo Bags. Not only that, we have handmade purses by local and international designers. Here's a link to some of the purses: http://www.flickr.com/womeninaction. CHECK THEM OUT!!!

All of the money raised from the event will benefit women and children in Erie County. Right here in your community, your backyard, your home.

Come bid on them while you are listening to live jazz, eating some chocolate, sipping a lively drink and enjoying good conversation with old and new friends.

The event will be held at Lake Shore Country Club. The 3rd Annual Meeting will being at 5:00 p.m. and the auction will immediately follow. Cost for both is only $30. Where else can you get this much bang for your buck - two events in one?

A VERY special guest has been invited to speak, so as soon as she confirms the engagement, I'll be happy to announce her name.

MANY MANY thanks to the ad-hoc special events committee that is working hard to make this a successful event. MANY MANY thanks to the people and businesses that have donated money and purses so far. Thank you for believing in, and investing in, your community.

I'll keep you posted...ta-ta for now!

Jennifer Dobbs Woods

Lunch with Leaders featuring Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper on October 12

Submitted by Jennifer_DobbsWoods on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 4:24pm

You missed a good session if you were unable to come! U.S Representative Kathy Dahlkemper spoke to 25 YLC members about leadership and about a current pressing issue: health care reform. It was nice to hear a first hand account of the progress that is being made and how it will affect us as a community and a nation. Those in attendance had a lot of good questions and left feeling much more informed. We'll have another Lunch with Leaders session in first quarter next year. We hope to see you at that one!

Jennifer Dobbs Woods

Campaign Progress

Submitted by RJ_Zonna on Wed, 09/30/2009 - 10:09am

What a day! I am constantly impressed by the volunteer effort put forth by local organizations and their employees in support of United Way of Erie County. My day started at the PNC leadership breakfast hosted by Marlene Mosco. It’s humbling to learn that these loyal contributors have been giving to United Way for 30, 35, even 40+ years! And speaking of PNC, Bill Jackson and I received a $53,500 check of behalf of United Way from PNC last week. The funds represent PNC's corporate contribution to United Way's 2009 Campaign and sponsorship of United Way's Loaned Representative Program.

PNC Regional President Marlene Mosco (L) presents a check for $53,500 to RJ Zonna, United Way of Erie County Vice President of Campaign & Communications and Bill Jackson, United Way's Interim President.

My day ended yesterday at 10:30 PM at Penn State Behrend where I heard a heart rending testimonial from campaign volunteer Brenda Bane. She told of her own personal hardships and explained to the nearly 30 staff members in attendance how important United Way-funded programs and services are…especially in times like these.

A few thoughts

Submitted by Bill_Jackson on Tue, 09/22/2009 - 2:33pm

Hi! I’m Bill Jackson and, as you might have already heard, I will be United Way of Erie County’s interim president as of October 1. As I said at our campaign kickoff on September 9, I’m extremely thankful to our entire board of directors for the confidence they are showing, not just in me, but in our entire team at United Way. Our 14 staff members have a combined 115 years of United Way experience – we know how to work well together, and we know how to work with our volunteers, donors, agencies and other community partners. We call it Living United.

As a lifelong Erie resident, I’ve seen the positive impact United Way has had on so many local people. United Way has made our region a better place to live. And yet looking forward, we as a community face many challenges – and we know it will take all of us, coming together as never before, to overcome them. It is my pledge to you that your United Way will continue to reach out in a spirit of cooperation and hope – looking for results, not credit – relying on what works, not what’s popular – and always remembering that we will only be successful when every individual in Erie County has access to the basic things that we all need for a good life: a quality education that leads to a stable job, income that can support a family through retirement, and good health.

I’m looking forward to utilizing this blog, along with our Facebook page and Twitter feed, to better communicate with each and every one of you, our supporters. As I said earlier, it truly is YOUR United Way. And through these technologies, I hope to give you more insight into the great work United Way is doing to advance the common good in Erie County and at the same time get your thoughts about what we can do better. We can accomplish so much more when we work together than any of us could on our own.

Let me end this post with a link to a podcast of the keynote speaker at our campaign kickoff. Mark Chamberlain, president of Trivaris in Hamilton, Ontario, gave a very inspirational speech about how we must collaborate to reduce poverty in our region. It gave me a lot to think about, and I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Cick the "Play" button above to listen to the podcast or download it by clicking here.