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WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2004 – Defense Department employees donated $13 million in the 2003 Combined Federal Campaign, and officials here hope to top that number this year.
At a campaign kick-off event in the Pentagon today, DoD's Director of Administration and Management Raymond F. DuBois spoke about this year's campaign theme: Superheroes. "All of us can be supermen and superwomen when it comes to helping those of our families and friends and neighbors who need our help," DuBois said. The Combined Federal Campaign is the federal government's only authorized workplace solicitation of donations. Military and civilian employees choose which charity or charities they elect to support and can make straight donations or set up payroll deductions. In 2003, DoD raised $13 million for the campaign -- $1.5 million more than the agency's goal. This year officials set a goal of $12.1 million, and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said he believes the department will again exceed its goal. In a short speech at today's kick-off ceremony, Wolfowitz likened donating to CFC to the work American servicemembers are doing overseas. Both, he said, are forms of selfless service. "(Servicemembers and civil servants) are helping people today, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq, on a truly heroic scale," Wolfowitz said. "While our armed forces serve us so faithfully, the charities of the Combined Federal Campaign give gifts of education, nutrition and other life-giving support to those who need it most." The deputy secretary said it's important to note that most of the charities that responded to the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001, are part of the Combined Federal Campaign. Likewise, he said, so are the charities that are providing humanitarian relief in hurricane-damaged sections of the southeastern United States. "CFC organizations are once again making a huge difference in helping people put their lives back together," he said.
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