Campaign for the Community begins rally for fundraising goal

The rally to the tally has begun.

UB launched its 2018 Campaign for the Community yesterday with a sports theme, complete with cheers from the UB Dazzlers, songs from UB’s marching band, The Thunder of the East, and a pep talk from UB women’s basketball head coach Felisha Legette-Jack.

Campus liaisons, administrators and members of United Way agencies gathered in the Gicewicz Club in UB Stadium to celebrate the start of the campaign and learn more about the impact made on the Western New York community through their generosity.

The rally began at the sound of a few dozen whistles, which were provided to guests by the UB Dazzlers. Legette-Jack enlivened the crowd by leading guests in waving their rally towels. Later, sensing the need for more energy, she called in reinforcements from the UB marching band, which playing selections for the group.

This year’s finish line: $850,000.

Paul Peck, the voice of the UB Bulls, served as emcee and completed several post-game interviews with guests. Joseph J. Zambon, dean of the School of Dental Medicine and 2018 campaign chair, served as “team captain.”

Zambon recently visited non-profits supported by previous UB campaigns, such as the Family Justice Center of Erie County and Jericho Road Community Health Center. “I can’t begin to convey how impressed I was by these organizations and their commitment to providing services and meeting unmet needs throughout our community,” he told those gathered in the Gicewicz Club. “Our community would be a much poorer place if not for the efforts of these organizations and the many other groups supported by our campaign.”

UB President and “head official” Satitsh K. Tripathi pointed out that UB is one of the most successful universities nationwide in terms of employee campaigns. In fact, UB is the “number one team in all the collegiate fundraising that goes on in the state,” he said.

Added Joseph Gardella, SUNY Distinguished Professor and John and Frances Larkin Professor of Chemistry: “Every year, this campaign inspires a whole lot of people, including me. I look at this institution and feel loyal to it because of the staff and the faculty and the people of this university who respond. It responds better than almost any university in the country, and I’m proud of that.”

Gardella spoke to the audience about the impact of the United Way in his life, specifically of how the organization helped his family find the resources they needed to care for their daughter who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

“We, like most parents, didn’t know much about what to do and just dived right into phone calls and talking to people in the community, and very soon got the medical support, the social support and educational support for my daughter ... The United Way has been a source of support for these not-for-profits,” he said.

“Twenty-seven years later, and 23 years later for my son, who was also diagnosed with disabilities, we have a good life and it’s been our goal to pay back the community and pay some of it forward.”

Legette-Jack also shared the impact of the United Way in her life. Raised by a single mother, she described growing up in a low-income household, needing to purchase clothes from the Salvation Army and having to visit the Boys & Girls Club after school while her mother worked a second job.

“The United Way was donating money to those causes to help people like me. And I’m a product of the hard work you do, and my intent is to give you 100 percent back,” she said.

Faculty and staff can visit the Campaign for the Community website for more information and to donate.