Saying Thanks.

The staff team at United Way is mid-way through a two-week thank you blitz. We're calling thousands of our most loyal donors -- just to say 'thanks'.

I made a couple of calls last year that stuck in my mind.

One to a gentleman who'd given through his workplace campaign for many, many years. His wife answered. After learning who I was and why I was calling, she asked me to hold on -- he needed to hear what I had to say, but was on the roof cleaning gutters, she'd go get him. And she did. I felt a little guilty, getting him off the roof just to say thanks. But he loved it.

Another call was to a woman who turned out to be a 30-year donor employed as a receptionist at one of our partner agencies. She shared stories of how personal her gift had become through the years as she greeted folks coming through the agency's doors.

Sometimes the folks on the other end of the phone are surprised. Other times they're just chatty.

Yesterday I spoke with a gentleman I'd reached on his cell as he and his wife were driving back from a Florida vacation. He was somewhere in north Georgia. We compared weather notes and agreed there was apparently no escaping the heat this summer.

I said thanks.

He said 'no, thank you for what you all do.'

Lots of phone calls. Lots of smiles.