Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Fort Belvoir agencies march toward CFC goal of $230K

As of Nov. 7, Fort Belvoir has raised $52,707 toward the Combined Federal Campaign, approximately 23 percent of the $230,000 goal.

Several tenant and base operations organizations have met or exceeded their goals, but the campaign still has a way to go.

“There’s a lot of charities out there, look at what’s going on in the world with the war and cancer,” said Sheila Allen, administrative support specialist for the Directorate of Plans Training and Mobilization and the office CFC key worker. “Just give what you can give, even if it’s a dollar.”

Each office on the installation has a key worker who has information on how to donate to the CFC. The campaign then distributes these donations among more than 3,400 charities worldwide. The CFC is the only solicitation event for outside charities authorized within the Department of Defense.

Key workers can ask for individual donations or hold fundraisers to raise money toward the campaign.

DPTMS held a chili luncheon that raised $145.22. DPTMS employees made and donated chili and then asked for donations. Currently, DPTMS has exceeded its goal with approximately $1,800 in total donations.

Other organizations have just taken the old fashioned approach of asking for donations.

“I went and had 100 percent contact and most of the people gave something,” said John Pritchard, senior program analyst at Product Manager Force Protection Systems and key worker for the office.

Force Protection Systems has currently exceeded its goal by approximately $800.

“In my opinion, enough people did the right thing and that makes it easy,” Pritchard said.

There are a variety of organizations to donate to within the CFC, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, The Red Cross and the United Service Organizations.

“You have the ability to help … hundreds and hundreds of organizations,” Pritchard said. “There are people in the office with diabetes [they can give to diabetes charities]. You can give to whatever is close to your heart.”

To see a list of charities, or for more information about the Combined Federal Campaign, visit the Web site at http://www.cfcnca.org. Anyone who is unsure of their CFC key worker should contact Alicia Matias, Fort Belvoir’s campaign manager, at (703) 805-1837, or via e-mail at .