The United Way Campaign Team is gearing up for the 2007-08 fund-raising drive, which will mark United Way’s 35th year in Martin County.

Team members met for an orientation on July 12, and they are planning many facets of the United Way campaign, including the official campaign kickoff on Sept. 28.

The kickoff event will be a breakfast and “pep rally” to be held in the Wolf High-Technology Center on the Chastain Campus of Indian River Community College on Salerno Road in Stuart.

However, many events will take place before the official kickoff:

• Many workplace campaigns will start during August – most notably Publix and the Martin County School District.

• A free Community Leaders Golf Outing will be held Aug. 17 at Martin Downs Country Club to help United Way supporters of the past and present reach out to potential supporters of the future.

In 1972, volunteers in the business community held the first meetings of the United Fund, which had the full endorsement of the Stuart Chamber of Commerce. Over the years, United Fund became United Way, and the needs in the community also continued to evolve.

The Campaign Team is calling upon committed business and civic leaders of today to meet the challenge and conduct a drive at their workplace or provide a corporate gift.

The Campaign Team also is the group that decides the fund-raising goal, which will be announced during the Sept. 28 kickoff by this year’s campaign chairwoman, Patty Winterburn, the IRCC provost for Martin County.

For more information about United Way, the campaign or the golf outing, please call (772) 283-4800 or visit www.unitedwaymartincounty.org.