OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- The Combined Federal Campaign, which was originally scheduled to end on Jan. 11, was re-opened for an additional 18 days in February due to the government shutdown.
Thanks in part to those extra days, donations to the campaign on the installation hit a ten-year high.
“We had an awesome CFC,” said Capt. Scott Yancey, 55th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and CFC project manager.
While the installation’s overall goal of $200,000 has not yet been met, Yancey believes there’s still a shot to reach it.
“We have brought in over $180,000 as a base,” he said. “After all the mail-in donations and remaining donations are counted, I expect we’ll be even closer, if not over the overall goal.”
Even without the final number, the totals are already at 140 percent of last year’s donations.
“(Our goal) was significantly higher than what we raised last year, but I knew people would be inspired by a really high goal,” Yancey said.
In addition to the normal avenue of making 100 percent contact with personnel, the base hosted two charity fairs, one at the Warhawk Community Center and the other at the U.S. Strategic Command cafeteria.
For their forward thinking, Offutt and the Heartland of America Region of CFC were given the regional innovation award.
“That’s something the installation should be very proud of,” Yancey said.
The CFC was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. It celebrates 58 years of raising money for non-profit civilian organizations this year by enabling military, federal and postal employees to donate to local, national and international charities of their choice.