What better season than Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving to post a shout-out to the innumerable HUNT employees who come together throughout the year to make our United Way Campaign such a success.
To start, with payroll contributions constituting 50-75% of our annual UW total, there is a constant and quiet hum of employees giving with each paycheck. According to Josh Bezio, HUNT’s Campaign leader, “With every $1 dollar per-week E-pledge gift, the United Way is able to provide transportation for seniors and the elderly, school supplies and drug awareness programs, and personal care items and food for families in crisis or homeless”. Internally, Heather Blokzyl, Jerri Baxter, and Ethan Smith spearhead that process.
Josh and a HUNT United Way team of 6-7 others are the visible sparks of our campaign success – annual contributions rose from $25,000 in 2015 to over $28,000 in 2018. And, as you’d expect, a behind-the-scenes and ad hoc cast of generous characters also emerges each year to coordinate a host of other events. In fact, weekly activities – “chicken spiedie” lunches, the “Ice Cream Man”, etc. – give way to an Annual End-of-Summer Auction. In 2019 Jerri Baxter and Jessi Stevens reported that the HUNT Summer Picnic Auction yielded an additional $1672!