FARMINGTON – Breakfast, affirmations, tears and a resolve to raise $425,000 all came before 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning as the local United Way kicked off its 2003 capital campaign with a breakfast.

This year’s campaign brings many firsts.

It’s the first time the campaign has kicked off in the morning; usually it’s a noontime celebration in the shade of green leafy trees in Meetinghouse Park.

It’s the first time the campaign has been under the watchful eye of Nancy Morgan, the newly-named executive director for the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area after former director Buzz Davis left his post early last spring.

And, it’s the first time the campaign has been piloted by a Wilton couple, Leah Binder and Sam Elowitch.

But all those firsts aren’t preventing campaign organizers from charging ahead with wide eyes, and lofty goals, as they rolled up their sleeves early Friday morning and headed out to raise the largest amount ever – $425,000, an even trickier challenge in such unstable financial times.

Organizers have their eyes on the prize and at the kick-off they made it clear that the UWTVA wasn’t just an organization, but instead a backbone that keeps dozens of agencies running and helps thousands of youth, adults and seniors live a high quality of life.

“We are making it possible for people to be dignified and live quality lives,” said Binder. As the executive director of the Healthy Community Collation, an agency able to keep its mobile health unit open thanks to financial support from United Way, Binder knows how far-reaching the UWTVA is.

But recently, while signing her 5-year-old son, Henry, up for kindergarten, Binder learned that United Way had more impact on the Franklin County, Livermore Falls, Livermore and Jay communities than she ever realized. She found that a program against bullying sponsored by the UWTVA and piloted by the Franklin County Children’s Task Force was making Henry’s school safer.

Retelling the story brought tears to Binder’s eyes.

The programming sponsored by the agency should not be taken from granted, she stressed, saying it was like a road that needs to be repaved each year.

“Elderly people ate today because of the United Way. Let us not rest,” she said.

Meanwhile, several people who have directly benefited from UWTVA programs made some testaments to why raising money for the agency was so important.

Like Cindy Welch, who learned how to read thanks to Literacy Volunteers, which is supported by UWTVA.

“Sharing this with you makes me feel proud. I am so proud to know how to read,” Welch read to the crowd of 50 or so at the breakfast.

But it was eighth-grader Abby Gilbert, a student at Mount Blue Middle School in Farmington, who delivered by far the most emotional testament. She spoke about the bullying program that was implemented in her school that teaches students how to treat their peers with respect.

“I used to be called bad names,” she said. “I used to be scared to come to school and I would cry all the time. Now I am not.”

In 2002, UWTVA invested more than $300,000 in the communities it served, supporting 25 member-agency programs that served more than 14,000 people.

For more information, contact the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area at 778-5048 or log on to www.uwtva.org.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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