THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610040300
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY NEWSOME, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 73 lines
Few things grab attention like a motorcycle's roar, or finding a mayor as its passenger, as volunteers learned Wednesday when the United Way of South Hampton Roads launched its annual city campaign.
More than 100 volunteers from city businesses and government dropped their box lunches as 12 Harley-Davidsons filled the Virginia Beach Amphitheater. Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf dismounted to tell the crowd that the money they raise is more critical now than in past years due to changes the city will see next year in the federal social ``safety net.''
Frederick W. Twyman III, the campaign's Virginia Beach chairman and community president of BB&T Bank, said there is no way to gauge what the impact of federal cuts on the city will be. Twyman said, however, that even with current funding levels ``there's no doubt the health and human services needs of our community are rising and we need to do more.''
Michele L. Anderson, United Way director of fund-raising for Virginia Beach, said the city is already seeing an increase in the number of children put up for adoption and families seeking shelter through groups like Samaritan House.
The campaign's goal this year is $2,444,140 from Virginia Beach, a 4.9 percent increase over 1995. More than $2 million of that will go to the 68 agencies that receive funding through the United Way of South Hampton Roads. The other 15 percent goes to the overhead of keeping the United Way running, which is below the 25 percent average overhead for national charities.
Virginia Beach's goal represents 16 percent of the $15.3 million that the United Way hopes to raise throughout South Hampton Roads this year.
A board of United Way volunteers selects which agencies receive funding in a competitive process based on need. ``It's volunteers judging volunteers,'' said Twyman. Nearly all of those agencies serve city residents, the exception being groups in rural areas of the region's western edge.
``A good example is the Foodbank,'' said Anderson. ``It feeds (Virginia Beach) residents even though it's based in Norfolk.''
Anderson said giving through the United Way is ``more efficient and effective'' than giving to the 68 agencies directly. ``Many of these organizations don't have the time or resources to go look for funding and this allows them to concentrate on providing services.''
The United Way also provides the groups with a constant flow of funds they can plan around all year, she said, rather than depending on individual contributions each month.
Volunteers raising this money collect from their colleagues at work and these contributions make up 84 percent of United Way funds from Virginia Beach. The balance comes from corporations.
Twyman said that most volunteers probably put in one or two hours each day toward the campaign.
Twyman is proud of them. ``Volunteerism is getting more difficult to sustain in this nation,'' he said, ``not because people don't want to get involved, but because of all the various demands on time they face.''
Twyman has been a United Way volunteer since about 1970, not long after arriving from Charlottesville, and has seen the change firsthand. However, he still has time for a hobby, motorcycles, which explains the mayor's riding a Harley-Davidson ``trike.''
Despite time demands, Twyman said that this year's crop of volunteers already has beaten last year's pace. The campaign actually began Sept. 5 and totals released Wednesday show that volunteers already have raised 27.6 percent of the $2.4 million goal, ahead of expectations.
Anderson said the group raised about 20 percent of its goal over the same period last year.
Meeting or exceeding the 1996 goal, she said, is entirely possible. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
LEFT: Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf rides into the
amphitheater on the back of a motorcycle driven by Lu Steger,
director of Harley Owners Group (HOG). RIGHT: Oberndorf entered with
other members of HOG, including Frederick W. Twyman III, the Beach
chairman of the United Way campaign. by CNB