CFC contributions reaches more than $2.8 million

  • Published
  • By Mike Wallace
  • Skywrighter Staff
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The 2007 Combined Federal Campaign Recognition Breakfast took place at Wright-Patterson's Hope Hotel Dec. 6. Maj. David Ratcliffe, National Air and Space Intelligence Center, was the event emcee. 

Following breakfast, Jackie Phillips, executive director for the Miami Valley CFC, introduced guest speaker, Angela Barrett. Barrett, a former convict and substance abuser, talked about her mistakes leading to a stint in the Ohio Reformatory for Women, Marysville, Ohio. After her release, she received help from a CFC organization called Mercy Manor. 

Mercy Manor is a transitional housing and supportive service program that attempts to build the self-respect of female ex-offenders through life skills education and counseling. Because of Mercy Manor, Barrett continues to attend Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings and has gained confidence in herself. 

"It's people like you who donate who help people like me. I'm so grateful to you for helping addicts like me," Barrett concluded. 

NASIC's Manuel Gomez, this year's Miami Valley CFC chairman, then spoke thanking the more than 350 CFC key workers who were the "backbone" of this year's campaign. He said that despite warnings that there were "a thousand fewer contributors this year, and the economy was down," he thought that the goal of $2.6 million, one hundred thousand more than last year, was attainable. 

He announced that as of Dec. 5, the contributions had mounted to more than $2,848,500, and that money "was still being counted." 

Gomez and Guy Richardson, director of the Veteran Affairs medical center and chairman of the local federal coordinating committee, then handed out plaques to organizations that had exceeded their CFC goals. 

The organizations included: Air Force Materiel Command headquarters, VA Medical Center, U.S. Government Accountability Office, U.S. Postal Service-Springfield, 88th Air Base Wing, Defense Institute Security Assistance Management, 178th Fighter Wing-Springfield Ohio Air National Guard, Air Force Research Laboratory/Wright Research Site, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 554th Electronic Systems Group, Transportation Security Administration, Air Force Audit Agency, Defense Automatic Addressing Service Center, Air Force Security Assistance Center, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Air Force Financial Systems Operations, Aeronautical Systems Center, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Defense Contract Management Agency-Dayton, Air Force Institute of Technology, and NASIC. Twenty-four other organizations exceeded their goals, but had no representatives available. 

Also recognized were campaign managers from 17 organizations; Jim Brown of Wright State University's Nutter Center where the CFC kickoff was held, and Kirk Burmeister and Patricia Jordan, two loaned executives assisted the campaign. 

Gomez concluded the program, "Your contributions do make a difference, and 47 percent of it stays here in the Dayton area."