As we begin the new year, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to our friends, volunteers, donors, and legacy donors. The work you do, and the dollars you’ve given are what really make a difference in the lives of individuals, kids, and families across the Treasure Valley. United Way of Treasure Valley is a great collaborator and facilitator, but the successes are because of you. One success is that our total gifts included in wills (bequests) have reached just over $3.5 million! The donations that we receive throughout the year, and these legacy gifts are what keep the work that was started years ago still growing and improving year after year. So, THANK YOU for being a part of the solution, for partnering with us, and for joining your neighbors and friends to help create a better Treasure Valley where every person has the opportunity to thrive.
One of the projects that I’ve been working on for the past several months has been reaching out to long-time friends of United Way to ask them if they have already created a gift in their will or trust for United Way, but have never actually told us about that gift. If you are one of these friends who have already planned to leave United Way a gift in your will or trust, please let me know about it, even if you wish for your gift to remain anonymous. We will protect your privacy.
We are in a strong position to grow our work in 2024 and enlarge the ripple effect that it has. All because you've been laying the groundwork for many years. Big, generational change does not happen by accident. It takes lots of planning and a series of actions to pull it off, and you. Thank you for your consistency. Thank you for trusting us.
You may have read sometime over the past year that I’ve transitioned to part-time. Well, I’ve decided to take the next step to full-time retirement. My last day of employment will be March 1st.
I’d been a donor for a while, but don’t remember how long. And I wasn’t exactly clear on how my donation was invested, but it made me feel good to give. One year I was asked to run our workplace campaign. I think it was late 2004, at CH2M HILL (now Jacobs Engineering). I’m not sure how she got there, but the then United Way CEO, Sally Zive, attended our grand finale root beer float party. I didn’t know Sally, but we ended up talking and she asked me if I’d “like to get a little more involved”. I said, “yes” without really knowing what I was agreeing to, and that was the beginning of an almost 20-year relationship with United Way of Treasure Valley.
If you had asked me 20 years ago how the next two decades would play out, I could not have imagined it any better than what actually happened. It’s been said, “Choose a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” The privilege of volunteering at United Way of Treasure Valley really helped me to connect the dots and get to know our community better. Working for United Way since 2017 has truly been the capstone of my career. Helping people in big ways and small, working on projects and programs that have created real change, and making lasting relationships with so many of you, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
I’ll end by saying “thank you” for your advice, your mentoring, your friendship, your advocacy, your time, and your dollars over the past 20 years. For me, success is not the sum of my dollars or my stuff, but in this work, in the people I’ve met and worked with, and in the lives that we’ve touched. I feel blessed.
208-861-8517 or 208-807-2931