The UMass Medical School COMECC campaign ends on Wednesday, Nov. 25. The campaign co-chairs are asking employees who have not yet donated to take a moment to consider the impact of a charitable gift as UMass Medical School strives to achieve its goal of raising $400,000 for the 2015 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Employees Charitable Campaign.
“Just consider the big impact each individual donation has,” said COMECC co-chairs Jean King, PhD, and Mark Klempner, MD. “The United Way reports that a contribution of $5 can pay for a meal, a book or a bottle of vitamins for a needy family; a $10 contribution buys a student school supplies; and $20 could mean a new pair of sneakers for a child or fresh haircuts for several homeless veterans. If you think your donation would be just a drop in the bucket, keep in mind that is exactly how buckets are filled.”
Supporting COMECC makes possible stories like Esther’s, provided courtesy of the United Way of Central Massachusetts.
Esther immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 10 years old. Although she was well-behaved and received acceptable grades, Esther never liked going to school. When she was in eighth grade, one of her teachers noticed that Esther was becoming increasingly withdrawn. She sat at a table by herself in the cafeteria, never spoke to anyone and her grades had begun to suffer. The teacher recommended that Esther enroll in the “Positive Directions” program at South High School, which is run by Family Health Center of Worcester and funded by donations to the United Way.
The Positive Directions program is designed to assist at-risk middle-school students who are having academic and social difficulties transitioning into high school. Because of Positive Directions, Esther was able to receive the support she needed to complete her freshman year and get on track to graduating high school. She received tutoring and case management, participated in Positive Directions after-school activities and began to form close friendships with the other students in the program. Esther is no longer the withdrawn student she was in middle school. She now laughs in the hallways with her friends, loves going to school and gets good grades.
This year UMMS COMECC is fully online. To view a full list of COMECC charities and pledge or donate, visit https://umassmedcares.org/.
The statewide campaign, which runs through Nov. 25, allows UMMS employees to direct their contributions to any of more than 1,000 prescreened local, regional, national and international nonprofits dedicated to supporting a wide range of needs. UMMS has traditionally been among the leading sources of donations to COMECC. Last year, contributions from UMMS employees comprised nearly 25 percent of the total amount raised.
For more information, visit the UMMS COMECC website at https://umassmedcares.org/.
