Since its inception, the Combined Federal Campaign has raised more than $8 billion for local and global charities, said Brad Bunn, the Defense Logistics Agency’s Human Resources director and DLA Headquarters vice chair for the 2016 campaign.
“It was President Kennedy who initiated a formal national giving program for federal employees in 1961,” he said. “Since then, CFC has evolved into the largest and most successful workplace giving program in the world.”
Bunn hosted this year’s CFC kickoff ceremony Oct. 3 in the McNamara Headquarters Complex auditorium, along with senior leaders from the Defense Technical Information Center, the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Bunn said in 2015, the Defense Department raised more than $10 million of the $47 million goal for the National Capital Region.
“These are not small numbers,” he said. “They are the culmination of a lot of small numbers turning into a really big number that makes a huge difference.”
Bunn said DoD contributions are historically 67 percent higher than the federal government average.
“It’s just something that I think is ingrained in all of us who work for the Defense Department — this notion of service and giving,” he said. “It’s really part of our DNA.”
The combined goal for all McNamara HQC organizations is $587,250, and DLA’s goal is $315,000, Bunn said.
“Knowing what I know about our traditions, our history, what we’ve been able to do in the past and what I know we can do this year, those goals are more than achievable,” he said.
The 2016 campaign theme, “Show Some Love” is meant to encourage employees to give to one or more of the 24,000 charities that rely on employee contributions throughout the year.
Bunn held up a sign that read, “I care about …” and encouraged employees to fill in the cause they would most like to support.
“I’d ask you to take some time to think about the causes that motivate you,” he said. “What is important to you and your family; what would drive you to want to donate money to help those causes.”
Bunn said following the ceremony, CFC volunteers would be handing out the signs to any employee who wanted one.
“This is your opportunity, if you want to, to write down what you care about and it doesn’t have to be a particular charity,” he said. “That will spur you to think about the type of charities that might benefit from your giving.”
Bunn also encouraged employees to visit some of the 22 organizations represented at the charity fair in the McNamara cafeteria and encouraged those who wished to contribute to visit the website and take advantage of “egiving,” to reduce the costs associated with processing paper pledge cards.
“Together, we’re able to have a direct and positive impact on the lives of millions of people in the area,” he said. “So, thanks for supporting the mission of the CFC and for showing some love throughout the 2016 campaign.”
Bunn then introduced the event’s guest speaker, Roxannamaria Calderon, business manager of the Fort Belvoir Fisher House, which supports the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.
Fisher House provides living space for the military family members when their military spouse or parent requires hospitalization as a result of serious illness or injury.
“The mission of Fisher House is to be there when bad things start flying and family needs some support, compassion and understanding,” Calderon said. “We rely on the community — this community.”
Calderon said she could talk “all afternoon” about the wonderful people she’s met through Fisher House.
“Or I can simply motivate you to go to that book or go online and say, ‘What moves me? What moves my heart?’” she said.
Fisher House is not just for military members’ medical beneficiaries, but also the military members themselves, Calderon said. She talked about a retired servicemember who lived in Maryland, but whose wife was confined to a Virginia hospital. A coworker referred him to Fisher House, and he was able to stay at the Fort Belvoir facility to be near his wife.
“That’s how community steps up to take care of each other without even knowing each other,” she said.
Calderon talked about how employees could forego a daily cup of coffee at their local coffeehouse and save enough to donate to charitable organizations such as Fisher House.
“There’s a home waiting for [people in need] with donated food and a roof over their heads,” she said. “They’re going to sleep well tonight and then they’re going to face the challenges of a medical journey tomorrow.”
Calderon said CFC provides an opportunity for employees to vet the charities that are important to them.
“It’s up to us as government employees to move the mountain, to show some love, to make things matter,” she said. “It’s all about our choices."