Published: October 10, 2009 12:42 am      

Blitzing for good cause

GREENVILLE — Volunteers will soon be making their rounds to a variety of small businesses in Hunt County on behalf of United Way.

This Wednesday, some 60 volunteers will visit more than 800 small business in Hunt County from 8 a.m. to as part of the United Way of Hunt County Wanda Gilmore Small Business Blitz.

“Several years ago the small business blitz started here in Greenville and Wanda Gilmore was one of the people responsible for getting it started,” said Bob Mason, chairman of this year’s small business blitz committee. “It was so simple that it caught on and it’s just gotten better every year.”

The United Way of Hunt County contacts small businesses in advance to let them know the blitz is coming. It starts with a letter, followed by a postcard and finally a phone call.

“The day of the event we have volunteers from all walks of life that come in and help collect money from all the different small businesses in the county,” said Mason. “Our goal this year is $20,000.”

All money collected in Hunt County remains within the county.

Volunteers will pick up their packets, get their routes and will be split up into teams and sent out to cover roughly 12-15 business each. They will then report back to United Way.

As an extra incentive to give this year, when volunteers report back to United Way with their collections, the organization will contact Radio Station KGVL 1400 AM and they’ll announced what small businesses have given to the blitz, though no specific number will be given.

“The small businesses of Hunt County have always been very generous to United Way,” said Mason. “Everyone is having a tough time this year, but that seems to be when everybody gets the toughest. Everybody helps everybody and that’s so important because three out of four families in Hunt County will use one of the agencies that the United Way supports in a year’s time. That’s a pretty staggering statistic when you look at it.”

The United Way don’t really know what to expect out of the blitz, but they do know what they can expect out of the community.

“It’s great to live in a community that understands there are people out there hurting,” said Mason. “We may be hurting, but there are a lot of people out there hurting worse than we are.”