UW holds small business Phone-A-Thon

NORWICH – When it comes to the Chenango United Way funding, every dollar counts, and in an effort to get closer to the $700,000 in community needs, this year the CUW will be soliciting donations from small businesses through a Phone-A-Thon.

From 2 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 12, approximately nine volunteers will be making calls from the Frontier Communications building in Norwich. “These volunteers are just local people who want to help the community,” McMullen said. The volunteers making the calls will be Katha Root, Lynn Kline, Rick Smith, Tammy Clapp, Rowena Krum, Lori Olsen, Mary Ann Scheer, Terri Slater and Meghan McMullen.

“In years past, committee members went out to each business. It was a long day, and a lot of time they couldn’t reach the people they needed to talk to,” said Campaign Co-Chair Charlie McMullen. Because of the difficulty reaching the business owners last year, the CUW held a mini Phone-A-Thon at the end of last year. “It was very successful,” McMulen said.

This year, McMullen and his Co-Chair Bruce Beadle Jr. came up with the idea for a mass Phone-A-Thon.

Over 350 small businesses will receive calls on Oct. 12. The calls will be a follow up to a campaign letter that was sent earlier in the year. “We’ll be able to do in two hours, what we couldn’t even get close to doing all day,” McMullen said. Any business owner who does not wish to be called can have their name taken off the call list by calling the CUW at 334-8815.