National Beef Employees Set United Way Donation Record

National Beef employees reach new high in giving to United Way

National Beef Packing employees have pledged $198,031.08 to the Seward County United Way for the 2011 campaign. National Beef’s contribution this year has set a new high goal of giving and has enabled the local United Way to surpass its goal of $320,000.

“National Beef employees have increased their giving by a phenomenal $21,106.28 from the previous year. They have really worked hard on their campaign this year. They’ve just contributed 61 percent of our total campaign. I would hate to imagine what we would do without the National Beef employees,” said Kay Burtzloff, executive director, Seward County United Way. "We appreciate the hard work that it takes to run such a large campaign. I’ll be truthful, I was not really confident that we were going to be able to reach our goal this year but a strong National Beef campaign has made the difference.”

Currently the campaign totals $352,000, with some additional results expected in the next week.

In the past 20 years, National Beef employees have given more than $2.5 million dollars, according to Burtzloff. “When you add in this year’s giving, by the end of 2011, they will have given $2.6 million total to the United Way. That’s just an incredible level of community support.”

Noting that just five years ago, the National Beef campaign came in at $146,146, Burtzloff pointed out that the campaign has increased more than $50,000 during that time period. “When you have dedicated people at a business that have been able to increase giving by 25 percent, you know that they are able to see what United Way and its agencies are able to do in the community,” she said.

“What impresses me is that National Beef donates the staff time and incentives to help make this a successful campaign,” said Michele Gillispie, 2011 campaign chair. “If you could add that to the total, then their gift this year would probably exceed $220,000.”

A vast majority of the National Beef employees participate in the campaign.
“We are deeply grateful to all the employees at National Beef who support our campaign,” said Gillipsie, “I wish I could thank them all personally.”

Headed by Lupe Lopez, National Beef employees working on the campaign included Anahi Valenzuela, Yesenia Salazar, Wendy Torres, Christina Gallegos, Rosa Byrd, Michelle Hita, Eba Rodriguez, Virgilio Ortiz, Nora Moore, Luz Hernandez, Lupe Ontiveros, Thelma Callejas, and Regina Chrisler.

The Seward County United Way has committed to support 28 agencies in 2011. For more information, contact Burtzloff at 624-5400 or [email protected]. The mailing address for donations is Seward County United Way, PO Box 273, Liberal, KS 67905.