After two years of having a virtual Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), Aeronautical Center employees were more than willing to attend an in-person campaign kickoff in the Center’s newly renovated HQ auditorium. It was standing room only on the morning of Tuesday, October 18th, as employees were welcomed by Michelle Coppedge, Director of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center as she opened the event. She highlighted the different ways that employees can give, whether by monetary donations or volunteering of personal time. She recounted the continuous passion and generosity of Aeronautical Center employees over the years and their ability to give back to their community. Each week during the campaign will provide a specific theme, with the local campaign theme being ’Causes and Compassion’. Coppedge spoke about food insecurity in the state of Oklahoma and ways that employees can help to address this issue. The Aeronautical Center’s CFC Chairs for this year include Debbie Uglean, Frank Howard and Jill Witter.
Kim Sheppard, Chief of Staff for the Aeronautical Center, longstanding CFC advocate and a member of Oklahoma and North Texas Local Federal Coordinating Committee (LFCC) was introduced and talked about this year’s campaign goal of $220,000 and announced the national campaign slogan, "You Can Be the Face of Change."
The Combined Federal Campaign dates are October 3 – December 16, 2022. Sheppard commented that "for the past three years, MMAC employees have received national CFC Awards." She spoke about the ongoing economic and mental health struggles the global health crisis has caused and severe weather events like Hurricane Ian that contribute to the many reasons to give.
Debbie Uglean is one of this year’s CFC Chairs and she shared her enthusiasm about being a part of the world’s largest and most successful annual workplace charity campaigns. This year will be a hybrid campaign sponsoring both on-line and in-person events. Frank Howard, another CFC Chair spoke and introduced guest speaker, Chan Klingensmith, Development Officer of the Regional Foodbank of Oklahoma. Klingensmith talked about Oklahoma being the 4th state in the nation for food insecurity.
Mandy Heap, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Zoological Society was the second guest speaker and she described the growth and recent changes to the Zoo and the investment in helping keep some species from extinction. Expedition Africa is the latest and largest habitat expansion to the zoo, transforming 12 acres of land to feature diverse environments, guest experiences and unforgettable wildlife.
I’leta Young, an Aeronautical Center employee, spoke about her time being a volunteer with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. I’leta volunteers on a regular basis and has seen (first-hand) the results of food insecurity. She believes in giving back to her community and always looks forward to helping with the Food Bank in a variety of capacities, whether it’s in the warehouse, a food pantry, or personally delivering meals.
Kevin O’Connor, Deputy Director of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center provided closing comments and encouraged employees to take part in the outdoor festivities following the inside presentation. He spoke about the sense of pride and excitement that exists with our culture of giving, and who we are as employees of the Aeronautical Center. He reflected on the fact that as a CFC contributor, we are part of the Oklahoma and North Texas Panhandle Zone, and last year our zone raised $990,000 with his favorite statistic being how the Center raised $222,000, representing 22% of the entire Zone’s total. As of November 13, the total donations collected from the Aeronautical Center is $59,713.52.
As the program concluded, employees were reminded that they can give by:
Employees should check with their CFC Coordinator or Keyworker to ensure that their proper office code is entered on the website to give proper credit to their organization and the Aeronautical Center for donations.
Thank you to everyone who competed in the cook-off as well as everyone who turned out to support CFC! Through all the donations, the cookoff raised $295! Congratulations to Joe Servais who won the cookoff for his best recipe! Honorable mentions include: Paul Bayless won second place and Michelle Jones and Jason Miller tied for third place, Thanks again for everyone who made chili or chose to have their lunch with AMA-900.
The evening of November 9th, approximately 60 MMAC employees volunteered two hours of their time to help sort and weigh food, assemble boxes and put them on pallets. Collectively, volunteers prepared 678 boxes of food, weighing 9,834 lbs. which converts into 7,630 meals for hungry Oklahomans.
Special thanks to everyone who has donated to the Combined Federal Campaign or who has opted to volunteer their time for a charitable cause. Every donation (in any form) counts!
