United Way celebrates 2010 campaign kickoff with Chicago White Sox
Thank you to everyone who participated in LIVE UNITED Day! It was such a great experience to see everyone out in their LIVE UNITED shirts and hats, waving their rally towels and supporting our community.
We started the day with volunteer opportunities at three local schools – Sherwood Elementary School, Holden Elementary School and Williams Middle School. Activities ranged from dusting computer labs and tidying classrooms to building gardens and cleaning parks. Despite the day’s intense heat, our 100 volunteers from Harris Bank and BMO Capital Markets, Exelon, AT&T, HSBC and others, made each event a huge success.
After volunteering, nearly 1,000 United Way supporters gathered at the Chicago White Sox game to celebrate United Way’s 2010 campaign kickoff and enjoy a few ballpark franks. Ellen Costello, President and CEO of Harris Financial Corp. and United Way’s 2010 campaign chair, threw out the first pitch while education facts and Text-to-Donate opportunities flashed across U.S. Cellular’s LED boards throughout the rest of the game – a special thanks to Harris Bank and BMO Capital Markets, Comcast and MillerCoors for donating the space. Everyone, including the White Sox staff, was so helpful and generous in supporting United Way!
We hope you took the time to text “EDUCATE 10” to 27138. Your contributions help support United Way’s education campaign, which focuses on preparing children to enter kindergarten ready to learn and bridging the gap between middle and high school, so students are on track to graduate. You can learn more about United Way’s education campaign at LiveUnitedChicago.org/Education.
Be sure to check out all the pictures from the day’s events on our Flickr page.
Stay tuned for more United Way campaign updates, fundraising milestones and event details on Speak United blog throughout the year.
We hope to see everyone – and more – next year!
Christine Heim
Hi! I'm the media and community relations specialist at United Way. I'm a die-hard Iowa Hawkeyes fan who loves to eat. Hope you enjoy my blog posts!