With $440,000 goal, COMECC volunteers
launch fund drive

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

he Commonwealth of Massachusetts Employee Charitable Campaign (COMECC) kicked off its attempt to raise $440,000 this fall with a breakfast for department coordinators and 19 COMECC charities on Oct. 24. Campaign coordinator Gloria Fox said another goal is to get more than 50 percent of campus employees to donate.

     "We did that last year, and we're hoping to do it again this year," she said. More than 3,300 campus employees donated last year, according to Fox.

     The leaders' circle, a group of staff who donate at least $500 to COMECC annually, opened this year's campaign with more than $130,000 in pledges. The group has 165 members so far.

     "Please let us build upon this momentum," said James Mallet, interim director of Development for the Isenberg School of Management (ISOM). "Please give as generously as you can." Mallet was standing in for Leaders' Circle chair Thomas O'Brien, dean of ISOM.

     Interim Chancellor Marcellette G. Williams urged campus-wide participation in meeting the needs of the community through COMECC.

     "We are the safety net for each other," she said. "We are part of the same human family, and we care and we share."

     "Caring and sharing" is the campus's COMECC slogan.

     Linda Markwald of Community Health Charities in Springfield praised the outpouring of generosity that occurred after Sept. 11 but asked the campus not to forget local charities.

      "All those agencies and needs that were here on Sept. 10 are still here today," she said.

     After playing a segment of a popular song, campaign chair George Parks said, "If you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance. Dance with us for the next couple of months."

      To make a pledge to COMECC contact your department coordinator or Fox at 5-4203 or via e-mail (gfox@urd.umass.edu).