We began our United Way Campaign with a desire to reach new heights, and together, we achieved that!
We had an incredibly successful campaign this year, raising $234,996 company wide with the Opus Foundation® pledging match. Pledges (without the match) and special events brought in nearly 10% over last year's total. Additionally, we blew past our pledge participation goal and our stretch goal, achieving a 77% pledge participation rate (20% higher than last year's rate). With those goals smashed, associates received a donut party in our offices in late November and get a half day of PTO later this month!
Throughout the week, associates had the opportunity to give back in a variety of ways, including the following:
- Chicago and Milwaukee associates held a food and diaper drive to benefit a local food pantry and women's shelter and daily events like lunch, a bake sale and contests.
- Denver associates assembled school supply kits, held a lunch for field employees, hosted a chili cook off and served breakfast at Urban Peak, which provides support to the underprivileged youth of the city.
- The Kansas City team volunteered with reStart, an organization that provides housing and other services for the homeless in Kansas City. They prepared and served lunch and organized the many clothing donations reStart receives.
- Indianapolis associates participated in a week-long coin war and balloon darts competition.
- Minneapolis associates hosted a lunch, bake sale and happy hour event and packed 72 moving kits, 15 infant/toddler birthday gift bags, 48 children's birthday gift bags, 48 teen's birthday gift bags and 72 women's birthday gift bags for clients of Women's Advocates, the domestic violence shelter that was the 2017 Gerry Rauenhorst Building Community Award winner.
- St. Louis associates participated in a wish list drive for the St. Louis Crisis Nursery, an organization committed to the prevention of child abuse and neglect that provides emergency intervention, respite care and support to families in crisis. They also volunteered at the nursery, performing a deep cleaning throughout.
This was our 16th annual United Way Campaign. Since 2011, we've proudly raised more than $1.2 million with the Opus Foundation's matching contributions for United Way, its affiliates and other impactful nonprofits. I'm proud to have had the opportunity to serve as this year's executive chairman. Our United Way Committee puts in a lot of hard work to execute this week, and we're surrounded by generous associates who contribute to the success.