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Giving Back is Easy Through Employee Giving Campaign

Join the 1,132 employees making donations to Doing Good in the Neighborhood

Through Doing Good in the Neighborhood, Duke employees have helped send 90 rising kindergartners in three Durham elementary schools to Stepping Stones, a kindergarten-readiness summer program.
Through Doing Good in the Neighborhood, Duke employees have helped send 90 rising kindergartners in three Durham elementary schools to Stepping Stones, a kindergarten-readiness summer program.

An opportunity landed in Kimberly Shoe’s email inbox that she couldn’t pass up. 

If she made a donation of any size to Doing Good in the Neighborhood, Duke’s employee giving campaign, her name would be entered in a drawing for tickets to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast musical at the Durham Performing Arts Center. She clicked on the “How to Donate” link.

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Shoe expected paperwork or needing to call someone to confirm her contribution, but instead, she used the Duke@Work self-service website to pick the timing and amount to contribute from her paycheck.

“You tend to put donating aside because you think it will be complicated. It probably took me a minute or two to get it done,” said Shoe, a retirement representative in Duke’s Private Diagnostic Clinic. “It was nice to see you could choose whatever amount you wanted. It’s just nice to give back, even if it’s a small amount.”

The Doing Good in the Neighborhood campaign hopes to raise $785,304 before its final day on Dec. 4. So far during this fiscal year, 1,132 Duke employees have made recurring or one-time donations, totaling $527,536.32, to Doing Good in the Neighborhood.

Duke staff and faculty have multiple ways to give and can select the giving category: Health, Neighborhoods, Schools, and Youth Empowerment programs in Durham; the United Way of the Greater Triangle; and the Community Care Fund, which provides competitive grants to Triangle nonprofits.

“The Duke family was always concerned about improving the quality of life in Durham and always concerned about the welfare of the citizens in Durham,” said Phail Wynn Jr., Duke’s vice president of Durham and Regional Affairs. “We can honor and continue that legacy by giving generously to the Doing Good in the Neighborhood campaign.”

Throughout the campaign, employees who make a donation will be entered in prize drawings, ranging from gift certificates to the Washington Duke Inn, Dos Perros and Tobacco Road Sports Café to Duke sweatshirts and gear.

Shoe, the Duke retirement representative who lives in Durham, won the Beauty and the Beast tickets. She took her husband, Jeff, to the show at the Durham Performing Arts Center on Oct. 23 and celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary.

She enjoyed a night on the town because she chose to give back to the community.

“If you think of how many people live in Durham or how many people work at Duke, if everybody gave $5, that would make a huge difference,” Shoe said.