SEPTEMBER 10, 1998-vol30n3: SEFA appeal: it's off to a strong start

VOLUME 30, NUMBER 3 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1998

SEFA appeal: it's off to a strong start

By LOIS BAKER
News Services Editor

UB kicked off its $650,000 1998 State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA) campaign Wednesday to the sound of shovels digging earth.

Capitalizing on this year's theme, "Building Stronger Communities," campaign chair Dennis Black, vice president for student affairs, led symbolic ground-breaking festivities on the North and South campuses for SEFA volunteers, aided by Victor E. Bull, UB's mascot.

Black was upbeat, predicting volunteers would do a superb job in meeting the ambitious goal, while acknowledging that the job is always challenging.

"We're a diverse community, always in flux," he said. "Our personnel is constantly changing. We can't rely on people to remember the need. We have to put out a strong message every year."

Black reinforced this approach by holding leadership training sessions this year for campus volunteers that featured speakers selected from the multitude of United Way agencies that benefit from SEFA contributions.

"We came away from these meetings with the realization that these are wonderful people trying to fulfill the needs of the community with very few resources," he said. "It left us with a sense of what it is we have here, and how little others have to address very serious issues and to care for persons in need."

To increase the chances for success again this year, Black recruited the chairs of past campaigns to support President William R. Greiner in his campaign to encourage individual leadership gifts from within the university community.

UB consistently ranks at or near the top in United Way charitable giving among American universities with more than 5,000 employees. SEFA benefits a multitude of agencies and programs in addition to those funded through the United Way campaign. UB exceeded last year's $635,000 goal by 3.6 percent, raising $654,479.

Units that helped preserve the UB community's record of generosity by meeting or exceeding their 1997 goals were honored at the kickoff.

Those entities were: Office of the Provost; School of Architecture and Planning; Graduate School of Education; School of Health Related Professions; School of Management; Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; School of Nursing; Office of the President; School of Social Work; University at Buffalo Foundation; Division of Student Affairs; University Services and Public Service and Urban Affairs.