Combined Federal Campaign kickoff Tuesday

  • Published
  • By Luke Waack
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Combined Federal Campaign begins Tuesday and is scheduled to run until Nov. 18.

CFC is the federal government's authorized charity drive, the only time when federal employees, to include the Department of Defense, can be solicited for donations.
This year, the CFC celebrates its 50th anniversary with the motto "50 Years of Caring." Since 1961, when President John F. Kennedy established CFC with an executive order, the drive has collected more than $6 billion to include $281.5 million last year.
In 2010, JBER CFC gave $390,210.93, according to www.alaskacfc.org, which was well above the fund raising goal of $350,000. This year's goal is $370,000 and organizers are hoping to exceed expectations again.

"The intent of CFC is to help those in need," said Sylvester Worthen, JBER CFC co-chair.
Picking a charity is easy, according to Worthen.

"The only thing they need is access to the charity list," Worthen said. "Everything is online this year. The CFC charity list online has all the charities approved by OPM (Office of Personnel Management)."

There are two local charities which operate on JBER and more than 100 in the Anchorage area.

"You've got local, national and international charities," Worthen said.

Each charity has a 25-word narrative describing its function, followed by the percentage of donations spent on overhead and administration.

"There are charities that have zero percent (overhead)," Worthen said. "Those are the ones I like to give to because I know for a fact all my money I donate to them is going to help the cause of that organization."

"You can donate lump sum, cash, check or money order or you can have it come out payroll deduction," Worthen said. "Payroll deduction is the best way to do it."

"Once you make out the allotment, it's transparent," he continued. "It's coming out of your pay every month, no problem. Plus, it helps the organizations, because they know for that whole year they will continually receive money each month."

Unit representatives will distribute lists of charities to service members and civilians, or people can go online to www.cfctoday.org.

Units can have fun while collecting donations for CFC.

Worthen has been involved with CFC for many years and he has seen some very creative fundraisers.

"I've seen units sponsor car washes," Worthen said. "One year, one unit had a dunk tank - the commander at that time was very brave, because that water was cold."

Whether planning a group donation or an individual gift, people should contact their unit representative to turn in their pledge form.

Assisting Worthen as CFC co-chair is Air Force Master Sgt. Michael Lyons. Army Capt. Allison Anderson is the U.S. Army Alaska coordinator and Air Force Capt. David Ritter is the 673d Air Base Wing coordinator. Each unit will have a designated CFC coordinator, to whom people should turn in their pledges. Donation information can be downloaded from www.alaskacfc.org.