UNITED WAY CAMPAIGN ABOVE 26 PERCENT OF ITS 1994 GOAL

After a month, the Cape Girardeau Area Wide United Way is slightly ahead of last year's collections.

To Sept. 29, the campaign has taken in $136,212, about a quarter of its $520,000 goal.

Last year during the first month, collections were $115,174.

Campaign Chairman Ron Hopkins said the last two weeks the emphasis has been on getting contributions from corporate and employee groups.

The bulk of those funds are expected by the end of the month.

Company contributions are higher than last year, Hopkins said, adding that more than 37 percent of the goal was received for corporations.

Corporations have contributed about $16,000 more than last year.

Employee contributions comes near the end of the campaign, Hopkins said, citing only 10.9 percent of the employee goal has been reached.

The United Way gives to 26 service agencies locally.

Easter Seals Society Regional Executive Director Charles Martin said the local United Way does a good job of distributing 91 percent of the money it receives to area agencies.

That is very high compared to some other charitable organizations, he said.

The society is one of the agencies the United Way helps.

Martin said the $20,000 the society received last year provided a foundation to build its other fund-raising efforts.

The United Way campaign is divided into four divisions -- corporate, employee, professional and patron.

The corporate division is made up of larger companies, usually those with more than 25 employees.

The employee division includes the money from the workers in those larger companies.

The professional division includes doctors, dentists, lawyers, clergy, accountants and architects.

The patron division includes smaller businesses, usually those with fewer than 25 employees.

Other means of raising money include special events.

An Aug. 1 golf tournament raised 83.4 percent of its $11,000 goal.

The two most recent special events were the doctor-lawyer softball game and a contribution from Fazzoli's restaurant after a fund-raising drive.

And, the next special event is set for Oct. 25 at Garfield's in the West Park Mall.

Garfield's will be celebrate its one-year anniversary by having patrons contribute $10 to the United Way so they can drink and snack from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

All the money raised in the local campaign stays in this area, Martin said.