Wow! It’s already December. Where has this year gone?

When Tiffany, my daughter, and I were asked last year to be this year’s co-chairwomen for United Way of Freeborn County, who would have thought the year would fly by so fast? Everyone asked us if we knew what we were getting into and how much work it would be. Yes, it has been a lot of work, but I can’t believe it is almost over.

We have visited many companies and service clubs spreading the word about Live United. We have also had many wonderful speakers along with us telling how they each Live United. Their stories are so inspiring and heartfelt. Tiffany and I would like to thank each one of them for sharing their real life stories.

There are so many other people that we would like to say thank you to including the United Way Board of Directors, our cabinet, and the many other volunteers who have helped us this year. Each of them has helped us understand how United Way of Freeborn County really does Live United.

Three other people that have been an honor and privilege to get to know and work with are Dave Bonnerup, Ann Austin and Corinne Applegate. When Dave decided to retire, Ann took over as the executive director. She is so passionate and enthusiastic about people and how United Way can help everyone. And the office could not run as efficiently as it does without Corinne.

We also have to say thanks to our place of work. We both work for Lou-Rich Inc. and our bosses, Steve, Larry and Mike have been very supportive and generous about letting us off work to do our presentations, talk on the radio, write articles for the paper, and attend meetings. We really do appreciate them!

Each year a children’s book is written and distributed to all kindergarten through second grade students in Freeborn County. This year, Tim Engstrom, editor of the Tribune, volunteered to write and illustrate the book. We want to add our thanks to Tim.

As the campaign is nearing the end, we also want to thank everyone who has donated money toward our “need” of $592,000. As of Dec. 3, we are at 73 percent of that goal ($434,000). Our campaign ends Dec. 31 so if you haven’t turned in your, pledge yet, please do so within the next couple of weeks. The “need” is determined by applications from nineteen different agencies for 31 programs.

We have one more activity planned and by the time this article appears, that will be done. We had a Bowl-A-Thon on Saturday. This was a fun activity for all as we had several prizes to give away, and Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer was our master of ceremonies. He always makes everything fun!

As our campaign draws near to its end, I want to say thank you to all the devoted people of Freeborn County. I know that with the economy the way it is now, it will be hard to reach our goal of $592,000, but I also know that because of the economy, more Freeborn County people will be using these agencies next year.

Please give as much as you can to help keep these programs going for each of these agencies. We never know when it might be one of us that will need one of these programs. Let’s show everyone how we can Live United.