USA — Defense Department Launches Annual CFC Drive

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department’s 2010 Com­bined Fed­er­al Cam­paign kicked off here today, offer­ing fed­er­al civil­ians and mil­i­tary mem­bers the oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­tribute to any of more than 4,000 pre-screened char­i­ties.

Deputy Defense Sec­re­tary William J. Lynn III launched the department’s annu­al CFC dri­ve in the Pen­ta­gon Library Con­fer­ence Cen­ter, address­ing gath­ered rep­re­sen­ta­tives of more than 20 Defense Depart­ment ser­vices, com­po­nents and agencies. 

“Your lead­er­ship has helped this depart­ment exceed its con­tri­bu­tion goals year after year,” Lynn said. “I’ve returned today to ask all of you to do it again – not only to reach a new and high­er tar­get, but also to con­tin­ue expand­ing the num­ber of employ­ees who choose to participate.” 

Lynn invoked Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma in not­ing that CFC char­i­ties feed fam­i­lies who have lost their homes, help wound­ed ser­vice­mem­bers and their fam­i­lies, fos­ter edu­ca­tion in under­priv­i­leged areas and pro­vide emer­gency sup­plies to dis­as­ter victims. 

“Pre­cise­ly because it may be hard­er to con­tribute this year, it is so vital that we con­tin­ue to give,” he said. “Pres­i­dent Oba­ma has said that America’s suc­cess depends on the abil­i­ty to extend oppor­tu­ni­ty to every will­ing heart – and the Com­bined Fed­er­al Cam­paign enables us to do just that.” 

Army Brig. Gen. R. Mark Brown, a mil­i­tary rep­re­sen­ta­tive to the Nation­al Cap­i­tal Area CFC, also spoke as part of today’s kick­off. He chal­lenged Defense Depart­ment employ­ees to treat CFC as “part of our mission.” 

“Your gifts will serve the needy, com­fort the ill, search for cures, pro­tect the envi­ron­ment, and reach out to help in count­less oth­er ways,” he said. 

“Some­times, our bat­tle­field … is not the sands of Iraq or the moun­tains of Afghanistan. Some­times, that bat­tle­field is the unem­ploy­ment line, the food line, and the rehab room,” he added. “We can­not accept defeat in these caus­es any more than we can accept defeat on the bat­tle­field when we are sent to fight.” 

The department’s 2010 CFC cam­paign will con­tin­ue through Dec. 15. 

Since 1971, CFC has been the sole autho­rized work­place char­i­ta­ble cam­paign for the fed­er­al ser­vice. CFC admin­is­tra­tors and vol­un­teers reach poten­tial donors through more than 200 local orga­ni­za­tions, and givers may con­tribute via cash, check, or pay­roll deduc­tion. Pledge forms are avail­able through local coor­di­na­tors and online at region­al CFC Web sites. 

Char­i­ties wish­ing to par­tic­i­pate in CFC must com­plete an annu­al appli­ca­tion process. Orga­ni­za­tions may apply to be list­ed as local, nation­al or inter­na­tion­al char­i­ties depend­ing on their area of ser­vice. The Office of Per­son­nel Man­age­ment, which over­sees the pro­gram, main­tains strict eli­gi­bil­i­ty and pub­lic account­abil­i­ty cri­te­ria that all par­tic­i­pat­ing CFC char­i­ties must meet. 

Accord­ing to OPM fig­ures, 2009 CFC pledges totaled near­ly $282.6 mil­lion, a 2.7 per­cent increase over the pre­vi­ous year. The cam­paign has gar­nered more than $6 bil­lion in char­i­ta­ble con­tri­bu­tions since its incep­tion in 1961. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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