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Tim Reed, DEQ's Solid Waste Permitting and Corrective Action District 1 Supervisor, tries to count how many candies are in the jar, while DEQ's Office Support Specialist II Sarah Johnson keeps a watchful eye.
Suzanne Engels, the Department of the Environmental Quality Administrator for the Solid and Hazardous Waste Division, is leading the United Way Campaign at the DEQ.?
She has big goals for the drive. ?I want to beat what we did last year. We raised $910, and I hope to reach $2,000 this year,? she stated.
Suzanne has several creative ways to raise those dollars beyond just sending out an email asking for donations. A couple include:
- Candy Counting: There will be a candy-count contest where participants must try to guess the number of candies in a jar. Each guess requires a donation that goes towards United Way.
- Chili Cookoff: Employees can bring their secret recipes and compete for the best chili-maker in the whole DEQ world. The entry fee for contestants and a sampling fee for voters will all go towards the campaign.
It sounds like all fun and games, but Suzanne provided noteworthy information on how United Way uses the money raised from their Laramie County campaign. In an email she sent to DEQ employees, Suzanne stated that she learned something new about United Way even though she had received a similar email from them for multiple years.?
?I thought United Way simply funneled donations out to nonprofit organizations in Laramie County,? she wrote.? ?What I did not realize is that?United?Way?offers?competitive-based grants and is not simply a funnel. Nonprofits that receive grants through?United?Way?must have measurable outcomes to show they are moving the needle in one of the three main focus areas: education, health, and financial stability.?
She went on to point out that even though there are over 540 nonprofits in Laramie County, there are only 20 Program Partners that applied and met the requirements to receive funding.
?It was enlightening to read that United Way does their due diligence to make sure the hard-earned donations they receive from the campaign go to organizations that produce results,? stated Suzanne.? ?As the leader of our agency?s campaign, I also want to do my due diligence to ensure that our giving reflects the generosity that is so abundant here at DEQ.??
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