Spectrum - Volume 20 Issue 15 December 11, 1997 - Combined Virginia Campaign coming to close soon

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Combined Virginia Campaign coming to close soon

Spectrum Volume 20 Issue 15 - December 11, 1997

As the holiday season approaches, we are often called to help our neighbors in need. However, many of our neighbors right here in the New River Valley have needs that last well beyond the holiday season. There are more than 45 local organizations who receive designations through the Combined Virginia Campaign (CVC) who help meet those critical needs year-round.
Virginia Tech employees can be proud of the fact that along with other state employees, they contributed more than $960,000 to charities through the CVC over the past four years. State employees in the New River region can also be proud of the fact that while the overall participation rate was only 17 percent in 1996, the average gift was $138.11--the second-largest amount next to the Charlottesville area.
In 1993, state employees in our area contributed $248,077 giving the second-largest amount of the CVC regions--second only to the Richmond region. In 1994-1996, New River Valley state employees raised an average of $238,325, but fell behind Richmond, Charlottesville and Tidewater areas in total dollars raised for those years.
"We can be proud that our area has a strong tradition of helping people in need," said Tony Distler, Virginia Tech CVC chair. "No other community in the state depends so heavily on the generosity of state employees through the CVC. Last year alone, the dollars raised through the CVC made up 24 percent of the $900,000 community-wide goal."
For many local non-profit organizations, the CVC is an opportunity to gain community contributions with minimum time and effort. This means agencies spend less time fund-raising and more time helping people who really need help.
Local volunteers manage the CVC in the New River, Lower Shenandoah and Southwest Virginia Region through the United Way of Montgomery, Radford and Floyd. Since the CVC is managed and conducted locally, all the money raised through the CVC stays here in the New River Valley and is distributed to the organizations that the donors designate to.
Of the total amount raised by state employees in the New River Region last year, donors chose to designate 75 percent to stay in the New River Valley. These dollars are distributed to help more than 45 local charities. 25 percent was designated to other parts of the state, country and world.
Approximately 5,600 Virginia Tech employees in the New River region will have the opportunity to give through the CVC. "With only a week left before exams end, that leaves very little time during this busy holiday season for employees to complete their pledge cards for payroll deduction and turn them in by the December 15 deadline," Distler said. For more information on the CVC, contact Distler at
1-5921, e-mail: distler@vt.edu or Gloria Smith at 1-7810, e-mail: ggsmith@vt.edu .