United Way Campaign

One on One is a weekly feature offering excerpts of interviews 1/2 conducted by The Evening Sun with newsworthy business leaders. James T. Brady is the general chairman of the 1991 United Way campaign. Brady is a managing partner of the Baltimore office of Arthur Andersen & Co., an international accounting and consulting firm. Brady heads a group of 15 local business executives who determined the goal for the current campaign. The group partly based its figuring on a report done by an economic research group at the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.Q.

WELFARE REFORM has caused some Carroll County residents to slip through the cracks. They are finding it difficult to keep their heads above water without public assistance. This increase in need has, in turn, strained local chari- ties. With that in mind, Carroll County's 1998 United Way campaign is in full swing.United Way of Central Maryland has worked on outreach into suburbia, creating partnership boards in each of the counties around Baltimore. The boards are composed of local volunteers who know their communities and have a better feel for which services should be given local priority.

THE CAMPAIGN FOR $37,750,000 in payroll donations launched by United Way of Central Maryland represents a marginal increase over $36.2 million raised last year. It falls short of what this region would produce if Baltimoreans gave as generously as counterparts in St. Louis or Cleveland. But it is realistic, attainable and essential if Baltimore and five surrounding counties are to maintain their standard of life in the face of government cutbacks in social services.Of the 2.4 million people in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties, perhaps 600,000 -- one in four -- will benefit from a service that receives support from the United Way of Central Maryland.

The United Way of Central Maryland campaigns pledged nearly 2 percent more in 1994 than in 1993, after two years of declines. This is not a lot, not enough, not what the needs of Central Maryland require, but it is nonetheless a refreshing breakthrough after tough times and it could well be the start of steady increases in coming years. Campaign volunteers can be justly proud.This gain of nearly 2 percent is in the figure of $30,831,229, which includes the United Way campaign in the private sector, the Combined Charity Campaign among city employees and the Maryland Charity Campaign among state employees.

United Way campaign helps local agencies serve thousands 0) hereErnie Imhoff's May 7 story on the recent United Way Campaign was an excellent piece. As the third largest recipient of United Way funds, our organization knows firsthand how important its work is. We are a federation of 24 nonprofit health agencies that provide screenings, referrals, support groups and education, and fund research for new drugs and therapies.Almost three-quarters of a million Marylanders depend on us. And we depend on the United Way Campaign.

As a result of editing errors, an article yesterday on the United Way of Central Maryland Inc. misstated how decisions are made on which agencies will be funded and how much money they will get. The staff and Larry Walton, president of United Way, have no role in those decisions. In fact, about 130 community volunteers who visit agencies and prepare budgets make those decisions.In addition, a photo caption reversed identifications of two United Way campaign officials, Donald A. Manekin and Mike Moynihan.

The newly elected chairman of the United Way of Central Maryland board of directors assured volunteers and staff yesterday that he is enthusiastic about this year's annual drive, plagued in recent years by the economy and a national scandal."

Frank Bowens never learned to read as a child. He was diagnosed as having a learning disability and was forced to repeat most of his grade school years.Despite his illiteracy, he rose to a white-collar job at Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Sparrows Point plant. He had his secretary read his mail.Less than a year ago, Bowens, 57, began taking classes at the Learning Place Northwest in northwest Baltimore, where he quickly learned to read and write.The reading classes were available, he said, because of funding from the United Way of Central Maryland, which today kicked off this year's campaign with a breakfast attended by about 1,000 people at the Omni Inner Harbor Hotel.

The United Way of Central Maryland met its $41 million campaign goal for 1999 yesterday -- minutes before it was scheduled to announce the year's results. Fresh off the phone with owner Peter G. Angelos securing a last-minute, $350,000 pledge from the Baltimore Orioles, campaign chairman J. Scott Wilfong gave the news to a relieved campaign staff that rewarded him with a standing ovation. It was the first time the United Way of Central Maryland -- which covers Baltimore City and Baltimore, Carroll, Anne Arundel, Howard and Harford counties -- passed the $40 million mark, an important psychological goal, said Wilfong, president of the Maryland region of Crestar Bank.

Donald P. Hutchinson, president of the Greater Baltimore Committee, will be chairman of the 1998 United Way of Central Maryland campaign and take it in a new direction, the fund-raising agency announced this week."