Happy Birthday, United Way! Celebrating 50 years of bringing neighbors and resources together to improve lives Organization founded by local residents in 1958 25 February 2008

The first mention of our organization in the Journal-Tribune appeared on the paper’s front page on September 24, 1958. The JT has been a proud supporter of United Way ever since. This is Part 1 of a 3-part series looking back at the proud heritage of the United Way of Union County. In 1958, a postage stamp cost four cents. Gas was 24 cents a gallon. The average household income was $4,650. Union County was half the size, with about 22,000 residents. And the United Appeals of Union County was established with a fundraising goal of just $35,000. As the United Way of Union County celebrates its 50-year anniversary in 2008, we will be looking back at some of the people and events that have shaped who we are today. The following article originally appeared in the Marysville Journal-Tribune on Wednesday September 24, 1958. Portions are reprinted here with permission from the paper.

Many Campaigns In One: United Fund Drive Set For October. Plans for Union County’s first United Appeals fund campaign are rapidly being completed by a group of interested citizens. Cooperating agencies who are members of the United Appeals group are the Red Cross, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, The Salvation Army, Union County Mental Health Association, Union County Cancer Society, Union County Civil Defense, and the Child Welfare Board of Union County. In years past, each of these groups has conducted its own individual fund campaign so that there was a different financial drive going on most of the time throughout the winter and spring. The purpose of the United Appeals is to raise the money for all of these organizations in one big campaign to eliminate the multitude of fund drives. Board Member Jim Cox (right) presents Dan Behrens, Publisher of the Marysville Journal-Tribune, with a Good Neighbor Award at United Way’s Pillar Society Reception in February. Behrens’s uncle, F.T. Gaumer, a former publisher of the paper, was a founding Board Member of our organization in 1958. Since this involves raising a larger sum of money at one time than in the past, Union County’s residents will be asked to contribute as much or more to United Appeals as they did formerly to all individual funds combined. To help people meet the larger pledge, many industries will make weekly payroll deductions for their employees so they can meet the obligation. Directing the United Appeals program is a Board of Directors composed of representative citizens from every part of Union County. Public representatives on the Board are: Mrs. Kermit J. Mills, Marysville, chairman; Charles Adams, Richwood, vice chairman and member of the budget and admissions committee; Mrs. Vern Howard, Milford Center, second vice chairman; Charles B. Mills, Marysville, treasurer; F.T. Gaumer, Marysville, publicity chairman; the Rev. Edward Hoeferkamp, Marysville Rt. 5, and John Hennigh, Darby Township, campaign committee, and County Judge Robert Evans, Richwood, budget and admissions committee. In addition, each of the cooperating agencies has a representative on the Board of Directors and several other persons have agreed to assist in the United Appeals program. They include Walter Herd, Marysville, campaign chairman; Burl Ridgeway, Milford Center, coordinating Grange chairman; and James B. Huff and Dwight Graham, Marysville, budget and admissions. United Appeals was organized as a countywide group this summer, as the result of a suggestion earlier this year by the Chamber of Commerce.