City employees raise more than $40,000 for local nonprofit agencies

The 2014 City of Auburn Employee Giving Campaign collected more than $40,000 in pledges and donations that will be distributed between local nonprofit agencies.

February 4, 2015 2:06 pm
From left: From left: Kathy Divelbiss (Auburn Police); Kjerstin Lange (Auburn Parks); Melissa Medisch (City's IT department); Debbie Christian (Auburn Food Bank); Mayor Nancy Backus; Janelle Tarasewicz (Human Resources); Ginny Gannon (Christ Community Free Clinic); Michele Weiss (Auburn maintenance and operations) and Jim Westhusing (Parks).
From left: From left: Kathy Divelbiss (Auburn Police); Kjerstin Lange (Auburn Parks); Melissa Medisch (City's IT department); Debbie Christian (Auburn Food Bank); Mayor Nancy Backus; Janelle Tarasewicz (Human Resources); Ginny Gannon (Christ Community Free Clinic); Michele Weiss (Auburn maintenance and operations) and Jim Westhusing (Parks).

For the Reporter

The 2014 City of Auburn Employee Giving Campaign collected more than $40,000 in pledges and donations that will be distributed between local nonprofit agencies.

Each winter, Auburn employees come together for a large scale giving effort to support United Way of King and Pierce County and also hold events to raise funds for local nonprofit human services agencies. This year the group decided to support Christ Community Free Clinic and the Auburn Food Bank.

Throughout the campaign, employees were asked to pledge through payroll deduction, several departments held fundraising events and then capped off the effort with a silent auction in early December. Overall, pledges equaled about $25,000, department events netted $4,500 and the silent auction set a new high at more than $8,500. Nearly 100 area businesses and individuals contributed items to be auctioned at the annual event.

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“This effort is supported community-wide by our businesses that so generously donate money or products for our events,” said Mayor Nancy Backus. “It is the enthusiasm of our employees to support the city they work in that makes me so proud of Team Auburn.”

This year the team was led by Melissa Medisch of the IT department.

“So many of my coworkers sacrificed their time and their own money for our amazing campaign,” Medisch said. “This was such a great committee to serve on as a first-year employee.”

Backus helped employees present the checks to the recipients on Tuesday at Auburn City Hall. In all each agency received almost $6,700. The pledged funds will be allocated to their respective agencies.

“We are so grateful to the City of Auburn employees for this,” said Ginny Gannon, executive director of Christ Community Free Clinic. “This will allow us to help more people that really need it.”

Debbie Christian, executive director of the Auburn Food Bank, was equally thankful.

“All of the nonprofits work so closely in Auburn. It is that close relationship that allows us to help so many more people get the services they need.”