The United Ways of Snohomish, King, Pierce, Thurston and Kitsap counties have joined forces with Comcast to raise awareness of basic community needs as well as raising donations to help meet those needs.
The five-county Puget Sound campaign — Give $10, Tell 10 — is to raise money during the holiday season for such basic needs as food and shelter.
Together, the partners’ Give $10 Tell 10 campaign is built on the premise of asking people to make a relatively small contribution and then ask at least 10 of their friends to do the same.
Participants are asked to help spread the word via the campaign’s Twitter and Facebook pages, which debuted in November.
Donations can be given directly to the campaign by clicking on www.unitedwaypugetsound.org.
The web site has information for each specific county, as well as some startling regional figures. For example, the number of people unemployed in the five county area would fill Qwest stadium three times. And, one-quarter of people in homeless shelters are children.
“We’re launching this campaign for one simple reason: the need in Western Washington is overwhelming right now,” said Deborah Squires of United Way of Snohomish County. “It’s been an incredibly hard year for many people in Puget Sound and if we give a little, we can help a lot of people have hope. Unemployment is double what it was a year ago. Calls for rental assistance to the 2-1-1 helpline are also running about double from a year ago. Visits to food banks are up. Social services are struggling to meet increased needs at the same time their budgets have been cut back.”
The GIVE $10 campaign marks the first time local United Ways will make extensive use of social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter to raise money in a collaborative way.
United Way and Comcast planned the campaign in partnership. Comcast also will run regional public service announcements across a variety of cable networks to support the campaign. In Snohomish County, Stevens Hospital is also a sponsor.
Small gifts can make a difference. For example, $10 would provide food for a family for six days, and $25 can give someone a week’s food and a night of shelter.
Give $5 and Give $10 campaigns have been run with varying results by United Ways across the country. Squires said that, to her knowledge, this is first time that multiple United Ways have partnered together to run a campaign regionally.
“While United Ways are all independent, we certainly share a focus on providing for basic needs such as food, housing and transportation and on helping people become more self-sufficient,” said Carl Zapora, president and CEO of United Way of Snohomish County.
“Collaborating on a project like the GIVE 10 campaign strengthens the ability of each United Way to meet that mission. People’s lives don’t stop at the county line, the media market doesn’t stop at the county line, and certainly the need doesn’t,” he said.
To donate, go to www.unitedwaypugetsound.org. People can follow the campaign on Facebook and Twitter.
United Way of Snohomish County focuses on successful kids, financially stable families and healthy communities. In the past five years, United Way of Snohomish County has raised more than $53 million for charitable organizations. In addition to funding more than 90 local nonprofit programs serving Snohomish County, United Way supports: the 2-1-1 information line, the Volunteer Center, Success By 6, Born Learning, Individual Development Accounts and a Free Tax Preparation campaign.
Comcast Corp. (www.comcast.com) is the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communication products and services. Comcast’s Washington market, based in Lynnwood, serves more than 1.1 million customers in Western Washington and Spokane. Comcast operates three major call centers in Washington, one of them in Snohomish County.
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