United Way Launches $5.5-Million Fund Drive

Aiming to raise $5.5 million, United Way of Ventura County on Saturday launched its annual campaign drive.

Explaining the campaign’s theme--”Power of Community”--to the more than 100 local supporters who attended the event in Camarillo’s Constitution Park, United Way President Sheryl Wiley Solomon said charity and volunteering are essential to a community’s growth.

“The unity in community comes with the recognition that all of us, regardless of individual circumstances, have a common interest in the health of the community we all share,” she said.

Underscoring the importance of participating in the community, senior activist Russ Murawski of Ventura, who is legally blind, talked about two volunteers who read to him every week for several years. The helpers from Caregivers of Ventura were available because the agency is supported, in part, by United Way, he said.

“I’m hoping and praying that you meet your goal and then some,” Murawski said.

Elected officials from across the county pledged their cities’ support for the campaign, which will run through the middle of December.

Roy Oliver, who is leading the campaign, thanked the cities for their support, noting that it was important for the entire county to participate in the drive.

“United Way supports agencies that support the entire community,” Oliver said.

The Ventura County chapter of the national group supports 59 agencies, including larger groups like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, as well as local nonprofit groups such as Camarillo Hospice and Food Share. Patti Verdugo of AIDS Care Inc. in Ventura said that although most of its funding comes from government agencies, her group relies on the $3,000 it receives each month from United Way.

“They do help, definitely,” said Verdugo, the group’s administrator. “Their funds are not as restrictive as our government funds.”

After not meeting last year’s goal of $5.7 million, United Way campaign organizers say they are committed to making it happen this year.

“The challenge we face is unleashing the power of this community to provide support for the desperately needed human services,” Oliver said.