Trumbull chairman prepares for challenge

The campaign will kick off in downtown Warren in mid-August.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- When John A. Guarnieri flashed the "V" sign to some 175 community leaders and volunteers Thursday, he said it stood both for a United Way campaign victory and for the volunteers needed to achieve it.
"I certainly hope that, a year from now, I can stand up here and tell you that we were victorious," this year's United Way campaign chairman told the annual meeting of United Way of Trumbull County at Leo's Ristorante.
"The success of this campaign will really reside in the people that are involved as volunteers" in the annual fund-raising effort, he added.
"United Way is more than a fund-raising appeal. It's an investment in the future of our community and its people," Guarnieri said. "No other cause touches so many in so many different ways."
Background
Guarnieri is vice president of Albert Guarnieri & amp; Co. of Warren, a 118-year-old wholesale distributor of convenience store products.
Fran Cunningham, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker First Place Real Estate, will be campaign vice-chairwoman this year and will become the 2007 campaign chairwoman, Guarnieri announced.
Guarnieri said he'll complete the formation of his campaign cabinet and planning after he and other local United Way leaders return from a three-day "peak performance" campaign development workshop sponsored by the national United Way next week in Denver.
Kicking off
The Trumbull County campaign will kick off in mid-August with a Rally by the River at the Warren Community Amphitheater in Perkins Park, and Guarnieri said his goal is to exceed the $1.85 million raised by the 2005 campaign.
"It's now up to each of us to preserve and strengthen the legacy of caring handed down by generations of volunteers who envisioned a better community and worked to make it a reality," Guarnieri said. The local United Way, which was founded in 1923, funded 23 local health and social service agencies in 2005.
Guarnieri will be faced with fund-raising challenges presented by the loss of the third shift at General Motors in Lordstown this summer, a potential wage reduction for Delphi employees and potential job losses at Forum Health.
"We will just do everything we can to gear up our campaigns within those businesses and try and do the best we can with the people that are still working there and the retirees that come out of those companies," Guarnieri said.
The campaign strategy will be to recruit new donors and increase gifts from current donors, he said. "We hope that we can find some new companies that are coming into the Valley and find a way to get them involved."
milliken@vindy.com