Holiday drive a success; need continues

United Way of Monmouth County would like to say thank you to the individuals and businesses that made a difference in the lives of the more than 4,000 families in Monmouth County through the Snowflake Wishes campaign.

The 2006 drive comprised 160-plus corporate and community partners along with 91 volunteers that coordinated the collection efforts of 10,209 gifts for children, adults and seniors.

Early in the holiday season, gift tags listing the first name, age and a suggested gift were collected by 28 partnering nonprofit agencies.

The donated gifts were then picked up at each location, taken to a warehouse, counted, sorted and distributed throughout the county. Through the cooperative efforts of everyone involved, 4,000-plus residents from ages 1 to 86 were touched by the generosity of their community neighbors!

The corporate sponsor of the drive was J.F. Kiely Construction Co. of Long Branch whose generosity allowed the United Way to expand its efforts from the previous year, resulting in twice the amount of gifts collected!

Other corporate gifts included donated space by Computer Data Source and Mack-Cali Realty, two vans provided at a discounted rate for gift pickups from Enterprise Rent-A-Car and wrapping paper for the donated gifts by Wegman's of Manalapan.

With the holiday season behind us, please be reminded of the ongoing need of those in our community who are without warm clothing. United Way of Monmouth County is currently running a coat drive to collect new or gently used coats. For more information, please call the United Way office at (732) 938-5988.

Again, thank you, to all who were involved in the SnowFlake Wishes drive.

Matt Appel

board member

United Way of Monmouth County