Kent State University's 2010 United Way campaign, themed "Share the Passion", exceeded expectations, raising more than $160,000 for the organization.

A check presentation was held on Feb. 22 and during the ceremony, the campaign chairs thanked everyone who contributed to the campaign with donations both large and small.

Individual contributions and department donations accounted for more than $136,000 of the $168,412 total.

Doug Steidl, campaign co-chair and dean of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, says there are two reasons for the 14 percent increase in donations from the 2009 campaign that raised $145,444.

"The staff and representatives from the various colleges were very committed and went around personally talking to people explaining the need," he says. "And people who are working donate because they see people who aren't working, or people who have great need. The United Way is the most comprehensive way to respond to those needs."

Donations were up all across the campus. Donations came in a variety of ways:

• University contests and events, including an online auction, a pie-in-the-face competition, and football concessions collected more than $10,000.
• Twenty-eight teams competed in the second annual Kent State United Way cornhole tournament, which brought in nearly $1,500.
• Individual employee efforts increased as well, as 583 individuals donated, and retiree donations jumped by nearly $5,000.

Campaign Chair and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Tim Moerland says he feels United Way is important because of the number of people it touches.

"Ultimately, it comes down to a large number of people believing in something that's a vision of shared importance," he says. "It says a lot about the generosity of the people at Kent State, and the commitment to their communities."

United Way is an umbrella organization that provides funds to many different social service agencies that provide a myriad of services. It reaches out to people with health, psychological and economic problems and gives resources to agencies that provide mental health services, emergency shelter and food kitchens, to name a few.

"United Way has a very good reputation as an agency that does good things with the resources that people make available to it," Moerland says. "No matter what your individual passion is, it's likely that United Way touches it in some way or another."

Provost Robert G. Frank says people understand the importance of the United Way.

"The entire community at Kent State is contributing, and that's why we're getting more success," he says. "I've had a lot of experience with seeing the good things it does. There are some people that work at Kent State who've used United Way, but whether they work here or not, they're all in this community, and we need to help them.

"We're proud of what everyone's done at Kent State. It has been a great year."