Thank you very much for being here this morning. I'm delighted to
welcome all of you to our annual United Way Stargivers Breakfast.
As you may know, we host this event each year to celebrate
the people at MultiCare who have given the most to the United Way of
Tacoma-Pierce County.
We deeply appreciate your generosity and support for this incredibly important cause.
And I'm especially thrilled this year, because this will be
the first time that MultiCare Pre and Good Samaritan are coming
together to launch one joint fundraising campaign for the United Way.
Throughout 2008, I’ve seen us come together and achieve so
many great things. We are truly living up to our Better Connected
brand.
And that's important, because this is a tough time for our
country and our community. Families are struggling. Unemployment is up.
And, just recently, it was made official that we are, in
fact, in a recession, and have been for a year—something that we
already knew.
At times like this, people may feel reluctant to give. Yet
this is precisely the moment when we need to come together as a
community and help each other.
And, as you know, United Way is on the forefront of meeting these challenges in our local community.
With donations it receives from people like you, United Way
supports more than 60 local nonprofit agencies and over 100 different
social programs, focusing on education, income, and, yes, health
care—something that's near and dear to all of us.
In fact, the United Way helps fund 14 programs right here at MultiCare.
As you may have seen, the United Way's motto is "Live
United." I want to read you a quote from the United Way that really
struck me.
The quote is, "Live United means that together, united, we can accomplish more than any one of us can do alone."
I think that's a message that really resonates with those of us at MultiCare—because that's our approach as well.
And I hope that's the spirit with which all of us at
MultiCare approach this year's United Way campaign, especially in these
challenging times.
Thank you again for coming this morning, and thank you for everything you've done on behalf of the United Way.
