Thank you to everyone who helped to make Keep the Fires Burning a success! From 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, we raised over $3,600 for United Way of Freeborn County.

Thank you to all of the people who donated during this event. It was great to see your faces and get a few seconds (or minutes, if the light was red) to chat.

Thank you to Alamco Wood Products for donating the firewood we used to keep the fires burning and the metal barrels. Thank you also to the city of Albert Lea for granting us permission to hold the event and lending us safety vests to use.

Thank you to United Employees Credit Union for the use of the parking lot during the event, and to all of the businesses on the corners who supported us: Nancy VanderWaerdt State Farm Insurance, The Chamber of Commerce, Security Bank, Eaton Sport & Spine Clinic and Ben’s Floral & Frame Designs.

We planned for it to be warmer than last year, but the forecast for rain held true and many of us had to use umbrellas. Luckily we had the warm, dry canteen from The Salvation Army to take refuge from the storm and to be interviewed by the local radio stations, KATE and Power 96 as well as the Albert Lea Tribune and KIMT News Channel 3.

A special thank you to the Tribune, Shopper, Power 96 and KATE for continuing to promote United Way events throughout the campaign.

And finally, thank you to all of our volunteers from the United Way board and partner agencies. Without your devotion during the stormiest of weather, we wouldn’t come close to being able to fund all of the services United Way supports in Freeborn County.

Steve Merfeld

2009 campaign chairman