National Beef Employees Reach New High In Giving To United Way

National Beef Packing employees have pledged $218,090.60 to the Seward County United Way for the 50 ^th Anniversary campaign. National Beef’s contribution this year has set a new high level of giving and has enabled the local United Way to surpass its goal of $325,000.

“National Beef employees have increased their giving by a phenomenal $20,291.44 from the previous year and made this 50 ^th Anniversary Campaign incredibly successful. They have really worked hard on their campaign this year. They’ve just contributed 67 percent of our original goal. 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 all the difference.”

Currently the campaign totals $332,838, with some additional results expected in the next week. The final results will be announced during the Seward County United Way’s Campaign Celebration.

In the past 21 years, National Beef employees have given more than $2.6 million dollars, according to Burtzloff. “When you add in this year’s giving, by the end of 2012, they will have given $2.8 million total to the United Way. That’s just an incredible level of community support.”

In 2006, the National Beef campaign came in at $137,767.76. Burtzloff pointed out that the campaign has increased more than $80,000 in the last six years. “When you have dedicated people at a business that have been able to increase giving by almost 60 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 Burtzloff chair. “If you could add that to the total, then their gift this year would probably exceed $250,000.”

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 Burtzloff, “I wish I could thank them all personally.”

Headed by Lupe Lopez, the National Beef employees working on the campaign included Luz Hernandez, Eba Rodriguez, Daisy Castaneda, Virgilio Ortiz, Nora Moore, Michelle Hita, Yesenia Salazar, Anahi Valenzuela, Regina Chrisler, Margie Duque, and Christine Gallegos.

The Seward County United Way supported 28 agencies in 2011. It is currently accepting applications for funding for the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years. 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.