Last year, Procter & Gamble helped do the laundry of Wyoming County residents suffering from the effects of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. They just recently announced a record level of giving to area United Ways.

BY ROBERT L. BAKER

WYOMING COUNTY

PRESS EXAMINER

WASHINTON TWP. – Procter & Gamble released the results of its fall in-house United Way campaign, and area nonprofits have got to be smiling from ear to ear.

P&G Mehoopany spokesman Alex Fried said Monday that some 1,533 employees of the plant contributed this year, almost double the plant’s performance of just four years ago when only 952 gave.

The $359,373.40 pledged breaks down by county to $139,080.10 in Wyoming County, $53,125.16 in Susquehanna County, $64,773.98 in the Wyoming Valley, $42,300.82 in Lackawanna County and $60,093.24 in Bradford County.

On top of what the employees pledged, P&G also pledged another $105,000 bringing the grand total for all five United Way organizations to $464,373.

“It’s beyond outstanding,” Kristen Huff, executive director of the Wyoming County campaign said Tuesday.

Fried noted in some comparisons that although there was a four percent increase in employee giving, and employees increased there contributions about $10 each, In Wyoming County the year-to-year change actually reflects a $1,972.92 decrease in last year’s overall contribution.

Fried noted that was partly due to the fact that many givers – who did not all reside in the county – actually pledged to Wyoming County’s campaign a year ago, because it had just gone through some significant flooding.

But Fried also said that Wyoming County’s contributors are among the earliest pledges this year and because the company gives matching grants to those who pledge early, Wyoming County’s contribution from P&G will actually be about $3,000 in the black.

Fried noted that compared to 2009, when 41 percent gave, some 73 percent of P&G’s employees are giving to the United Way.

He said the company’s forward progress is something plant managers have their eyes on and they are already looking to 2014, when Fried said P&G will strive to make it 5-for-5 in annual increases and expects to top the half million mark.