‘You are surrounded by your impact:’ United Way sets $4.5M campaign goal
Annual campaign runs through Nov. 20. Plus, the market on Jim Bullard’s chances to go from Purdue dean to Fed chair.
They held what amounted to pep rally Thursday afternoon at Ross-Ade Stadium’s Shively Club – Purdue cheerleaders, Purdue Pete, new Boilermaker football coach Barry Odom – to announce a 2025 campaign goal to raise $4.5 million for the United Way of Greater Lafayette.
That would top the $4.4 million raised by the end of its 2024 campaign to help fund two dozen community nonprofit agencies in Greater Lafayette.
Virginia Vought, chair of the 2025 United Way campaign, said the effort was built on a theme of “give local,” with emphasis on how 100% of the money pledged and donated during the campaign would stay in Greater Lafayette.
“I feel like uncertainty is maybe the word of 2025,” Vought, senior executive director of community engagement for Purdue, told several hundred people gathered at the club overlooking the Ross-Ade turf.
“It’s a lot to process and muddle through,” Vought said. “For me, this campaign is the answer. It's not an answer to economic global volatility, but it is an answer to feelings of overwhelmed, feelings of anxiety, lack of control, lack of agency. … We have a great community here. We are united here. We are small enough to still be able to take care of our neighbors. We have influence here at home.”
The campaign, formally kicked off Thursday, had raised $650,000 in early contributions, according to David Bathe, United Way of Greater Lafayette CEO. That’s 14% of the way to the overall goal.
The campaign is scheduled to run through Nov. 20.
“I can tell you guys about numbers or dollars and cents, because there is no doubt that United Way's funding for Wabash Center is profound, it’s vital,” Jason McManus, president and CEO of Wabash Center, one of United Way of Greater Lafayette’s partner agencies, said.
“But dollars and cents don't really do justice to the growth and transformation that the United Way support catalyzes for those that we serve,” McManus said. “Every day, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are gaining independence, building relationships, discovering their strengths, and their families are finding hope and relief. None of this would be possible without the support of the United Way of Greater Lafayette and the generosity of this community.”
Mike Bobinski, Purdue’s athletic director, introduced Odom, who is heading into his first game as Purdue’s head coach with a noon Aug. 30 kickoff against Ball State. Bobinski mentioned that “like our upcoming football season, the only acceptable outcome for the campaign is success.”
“Right, coach?” Bobinski said looking over his shoulder at Odom.
Odom said his first Purdue team was transitioning into game prep mode this week, and how that included pulling aside players on the scout team during practice.
“I had to talk with them today about how important every single role is on our team,” Odom said. “I look at the United Way, and the way that is pieced together, and that it will always be about the team, the team, the team, but then every single person that is associated with it doing their job. If we all do our job to the utmost and our best, then success will happen.”
The United Way helps support these agencies: The American Red Cross; Bauer Family Resources; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Lafayette; Scouting America Sagamore Council; Boys & Girls Clubs of Tippecanoe County; Food Finders Food Bank; Girl Scouts of Central Indiana; Hanna Center; Heartford House; Homestead Services; Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana; LARA Achievement of Northern Indiana; Legal Aid Corp. of Tippecanoe County; LTHC Homeless Services; Mental Health America-Wabash Valley Region; NAMI West Central Indiana; Riggs Community Health Center; Right Steps Child Development Centers; The Salvation Army; Tippecanoe Senior Services; Lafayette Family YMCA; YWCA Greater Lafayette; Willowstone Family Services; and Wabash Center.
“No contribution is too small to have an impact, and that impact is not theoretical,” Vought said. “You may not realize it, but you are surrounded by your impact. You are surrounded by neighbors whose lives are a little bit better or forever changed because you gave. You're in line with them at the grocery store. You're sitting next to them at church and at the soccer field. You're passing them in the hallways of your children's school. They're on your team for that big project at work. They're sitting in the waiting room with you. They're taking your temperature, they're taking your blood pressure. They're in this room. Your impact is real.”
What you can do
To support the 2025 campaign, go to www.uwlafayette.org/donate.
For information about lining up a company United Way drive, check www.uwlafayette.org.
Looking for volunteer opportunities during the Month of Caring in September? Check the list here: volunteer.uwlafayette.org/
UNITED WAY SIDE NOTE: A FED CHAIR EDITION
Part of Thursday’s United Way campaign kickoff featured a short panel discussion that included JoAnn Brouillette, a Purdue trustee, and Jim Bullard, dean of Purdue’s Daniels School of Business. Brouillette noted early on news swirling around Bullard in the past few weeks.
“We’re so excited,” Brouillette said. “We don’t want to lose Jim. But Jim is among a small list of people that are being considered for the Federal Reserve chairmanship.”
Bullard, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and dean of the Daniels School since 2023, is among the candidates mentioned as a successor to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. (Bullard also is listed as this year’s United Way champion for Purdue’s internal workplace campaign.)
“I’m 8% on Kalshi,” Bullard said, referencing an exchange that trades on future events, including sports, politics, Time’s Person of the Year, Emmy Awards, Rotten Tomatoes scores for upcoming movie release and more. It also focuses on actions by and surrounding the Federal Reserve.
As of Friday morning, Bullard’s Kalshi odds had drifted down to 7%, placing him fifth on a list under: “Who will Trump nominate as Fed Chair.”
“So you guys can go online and bet,” Bullard joked. “Or just go over here” – pointing to a spot with silent auction items benefiting United Way – “and give your money there.”
THIS AND THAT …
WINNER(S), WINNER(S): ICE CREAM CRAWL DRAWING: Congratulations to BiL subscribers Cathy Benner and Kerry Blankenship, who were drawn from a pool of more than 40 entries as winners of two family passports for Lafayette Rotary’s eighth annual Ice Cream Crawl from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23. Enjoy.
About the event: The Ice Cream Crawl offers a chance to visit any or all of nine participating Lafayette/West Lafayette ice cream shops for samples. Passports/tickets are $10 for individuals and $25 for families of five or fewer from the same household, available here from Eventbrite. Proceeds from the Ice Cream Crawl fundraiser will go to Caregiver Companion and the Claire E. & Patrick G. Mackey Children’s Cancer Foundation.
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