Watch the United Way Funny Video NOW!

Hey y'all,

Aaron Killian at United Way worked some magic and posted "The Kick-Off" - the funny video from the campaign kickoff breakfast. (This one has an alternate ending with a couple of surprise guests, y'all!)

The video's in three parts: part one, part two, and the bloopers. I hope y'all enjoy it!



Part One


Part Two


The Bloopers

Y'all can even download the videos to your iPod or Sony PSP if ya' got 'em. (Sorry, Bryan Daniels!)

Just follow the links below, and on the right side of the screen, just click "Download":

The Kick-Off: Part One
The Kick-Off: Part Two
The Kick-Off: Bloopers

Go there and click that and save it wherever you save videos for your Video iPod, and you'll be good to go.

If you have problems downloading the file, call Aaron at United Way because this computer stuff is beyond me. Their number is 982-2251, or you can email him at .

I gotta' say I was really impressed with the funny video this year. With the help of United Way's Aaron Killian and Mike Wiseman of Charter, they put together an incredible, hilarious video, and I've had tons of people come up and tell me they loved it. I hope y'all love it, too.

It was amazing to come out together at the breakfast with that cabinet after the funny video. That whole team is wonderful: Denny and Cindy Mayes, John Hinkle, Fred and Carolyn Forster, Kevin Clayton, Boyce Smith, David Conner, Bryan Daniels, Andy White, Brenda Pilson, Joe Dawson, Joe Huff, Melissa Copelan, Brickey Beasley, Cathy Cate, Mike Lewis, Julie Talbott, Lea Anne Law, Tom Hatcher. They're all great, and even though some folks couldn't be there at the kick-off, like John Hinkle, Joe Huff, and Fred and Carolyn Forster, they were all there in spirit (and on the video).

Well, it's time to go to work on this campaign now. It's awesome. We've raised $564,465, which means we're a quarter of the way there. And I'd like to be all the way there in four weeks. Then we can work on goin' over.

Blog y'all later,
Dave Bennett

Second Harvest

Hey everybody,

The other day we toured Second Harvest, and I got to meet Tom von Berg out there.


It really opened my eyes - I thought Second Harvest did food drives and that’s it. Food drives and people went and got food there. What they really do is they distribute food to agencies and pantry’s that are able to distribute to hundreds of people. They are almost like a United Way for food.

I tell ya, as we talked with them and learned about their operation there were two things I left with. Number one, there are 100,000 people they feed annually, not just in Blount County – but all over east Tennessee. But there are still 100,000 people in the same area going hungry because there is a need for 200,000, but they are only able to meet the need for 100,000 because of money, space and time. But what is happening to those other 100,000 people?


The other thing I learned is that they are a very efficient operation. Only about 5% of the fundraising goes to fund the staff. The rest goes to deliverables to the customers. And that’s important. They are watching their dollars and they are not overspending them. They are spending the money on their mission. For every dollar that comes in, they can feed four people a meal. That just blows my mind – that all it takes is a $1 to feed a family of four one meal a day.

Tom also told us that Second Harvest has been giving more food to Blount County than Blount County has been contributing to their operation. They're runnin' a deficit over here, and I was surprised to hear about it. With them being in Knoxville, they are taking money from all different areas to help other counties. They help 19 counties! But the bottom line is Blount County needs to be taking care of Blount County. We need to look at that and address it – be able to raise the dollars and take care of the need. They’re obviously looking at that, but at the same time, not cutting us off so I appreciate that.

Tom was telling us the food drives are great, but monetary donations can be stretched more because of their buying power. I mean I think they are thankful for any donations. But we can't ignore that they have the ability to buy food cheaper than we can. A $3 can of peanut butter is a great donation, but they can buy 3 for $1. So that $1 donation to Second Harvest will go a lot further than a donation of one can of peanut butter. Of course, a gift is a gift though.

Well, I better go for now. Remember kick-off is next week, and you're all invited. (Just RSVP at 982-2251 or email uwbc@unitedwayblount.org by Tuesday.) We'll see y'all there! August 30th, 7:30 AM at the Airport Hilton.

Blog ya' later,
Dave Bennett

Funny Video Shooting: Part Two

Hey everybody,

Here it is part two of the funny video blog.

I'll tell ya' one thing: it was hotter than Hades out there. We had the whole campaign cabinet out there, and shooting just went wonderfully. Thank you to Charter and Mike Wiseman, for their patience with a bunch of rookies (except for David Dwyer, of course). For you movie buffs, yes, the same David Dwyer that was in We Are Marshall, Remember the Titans, Runaway Jury, and October Sky. But David Dwyer makes a special appearance in the video. I also want to send a special thank you to George Quarles. Not going to say anything else without giving away too much. Ah, I will show a picture or two.



But it was great fun to do those team-building exercises for the campaign, and it let us let off a little steam – which was needed in these dog days of summer. I think everyone is in for a special treat. As I said in part 1 of this blog, this thing is going to be hilarious. If you can’t tell by those legs I posted before, this is going to be funny. You just wait until the Kick-Off on August 30, and I’d say you better sign up early because the house is going to fill up just to see the members of this campaign make fools of ourselves.

As for the bloopers? I have no comment on the bloopers – other than I didn’t do it! That’s a computer generated Dave Bennett used in those bloopers. And that’s all I got to say.

Well, y'all, August 30th is the Kick-Off, and it’s time to step up and raise money for United Way. We're ready!

Blog ya' soon,
Dave Bennett

Funny Video Shooting: Part Two Coming Soon...

Hey everybody,

I wanted to let you know I hadn't forgotten about the blog. I've just been busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kickin' contest.

Just to whet your appetite, here's a picture from the funny video shoot last week:


That oughtta' keep everybody's curiosity goin'!

I won't say anything more until part two. Stay tuned...

Blog y'all soon,
Dave Bennett

Funny Video Shooting: Part One

Hey everybody,

Shooting on the not-so-serious video wrapped up yesterday, and I'll make this blog kinda' a two-parter so that I can cover it all.

Mike Wiseman from Charter Media shoots
a scene with me and Julie Talbott.

Last week, we shot a couple of scenes in my office and other scenes at an undisclosed location. (I ain't about to give away any details on this thing. Y'all will have to wait for kick-off if you want to know.) But last week we had two good days of shootin', and we did two more days this week. Luckily, nobody had to go to the hospital with any injuries – other than maybe mental injuries.

I'm really appreciative to Rural Metro. They brought a couple of ambulances out for the shoot last week. And they were gracious enough to be a part of the video, which shows their sense of community. I want to thank Ron and Misty Parker and the EMT's (Charity Gentry, Cindy Murphy, Travis Brown, and Scott Potter) who came. It was a nice touch, and it added a lot to the video.

Shooting was a lot of fun, and that funny video introduces the campaign cabinet on kick-off. And I've put together a group of people I'm friends with and people I enjoy being with, but they're hard workers in the community, too. But we had a little fun letting off a little steam. Joe Dawson and Andy White came out last week to shoot, and they had a blast.

I will say this: I believe it is the funniest video United Way's ever done – even funnier than Joe Ingram's U-Man, Gaynelle Lawson's Harley-ridin' boxer Rocky chick, Jim Worienicki's Nascar racin', Larry Aldridge's Lariat Larry, Mike Lewis' Mission Possible, and Greg McClain's Blues Brothers.

But man, we had a lot of fun shootin' this thing! I can't wait for y'all to see it.

Blog you soon,
Dave Bennett

The Florence Crittenton Agency

Hello everybody,

We visited with Cile at the Florence Crittenton Agency, and the folks at Florence Crittenton work mostly with troubled teenage girls and their families. I tell ya', my initial reaction was very similar to the Helen Ross McNabb's Gateway Center where they work with the young boys: it's just heartbreaking.

Cile talked about these girls, some as young as 12 and 13 years old, that have been victims of abuse – child abuse, sexual abuse, some of them are pregnant. It’s absolutely unbelievable that it happens. These kids need to be loved and nurtured and what some of these kids have gone through is just terrible.

Here is an agency that is helping kids put their lives back together. You’ve got these young girls and their lives have just totally crumbled – totally fallen apart – and a lot of times they're left out there on the street to fend for themselves. But they don’t have any ability to pick themselves back up because they weren't raised with those tools. The Florence Crittenton Agency is helping them with those skills. First thing to picking them back up is just being there for them and telling them it’s going to be okay. Second you give them the tools to get back out there in the real world. I liked the fact they get the family involved, too, because they need to learn.

I think one of the key things we talked about during our visit was these kids are part of a culture and their parents are abusing them and their parents probably abused them, and so on. And typically the abused become abusers. But when you break that cycle, it changes generations. These girls will become mothers – some of them very soon, but Florence Crittenton Agency breaks that cycle so that their children don’t become a part of that cycle of abuse.

It's like United Way says you got to get to that root cause, and it may be years before we see the effects, but for every life they touch at Florence Crittenton it’s a life that's changed for the better. And ultimately I think that’s what United Way is all about – empowering people to give them the ability to take care of themselves.

I continue to be amazed with the people that are out there with the serving hearts that work in these agencies. Ya' know you don't become the director of The Florence Crittenton Agency because you want to be in a high powered position. That’s a tremendous job that Cile’s doing because it’s in her nature – in her heart that she’s doing something she loves. It’s probably some of the most important work someone could ever do. But we have these people working hard and that’s what life is all about – helping other folks.

Blog you soon!
Dave Bennett

P.S. We're workin' on the funny video, so I'll be bloggin' about that soon!