Investing in Community: Groups come together, make impact for United Way

Dressing up like Tinker Bell was not exactly what Darren Wildman had in mind as an incentive to increase donations for Jackson County United Way.

But, as manager of Seymour Engine Plant, Wildman found that employees will give money to see their boss humiliated, especially when it’s for a good cause.

“We make it fun so that more people want to get involved,” Wildman said of the company’s philosophy on fundraising. His message came at Tuesday’s kickoff for industrial managers in support of the 2012 United Way fundraising campaign.

Last year, thanks to the Tinker Bell costume, a dunk tank and pies in the bosses’ faces, Cummins saw a 7 percent increase in employee participation in its annual support of the United Way campaign, raising $43,000 from its workers.

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