You gave $10 (and more!), spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, and asked your friends, family and co-workers to come together to help people in need. Thanks to you, struggling families and individuals in King County will be able to put food on the table, keep the lights on and stay in their homes.

It was especially amazing to see the community respond to our call to help the Rainier Valley Food Bank, which was robbed Wednesday night. People donated $3,576, United Way of King County matched it, and a grand total of $7,152 went to the food bank just in time for Thanksgiving.

During times like these, it’s even more gratifying to witness such an outpouring of support from so many of you in our wonderful community. Thank you for giving!

Note: We heard from several of you that we went overboard with our Give 10 e-mails and that getting a United Way message in your inbox every day was a little much. We thank you for your feedback and promise in the future to keep our e-mail messages as un-spamlike as possible.

We still have $7,320 to raise to meet our online fundraising goal for the Give 10/Tell campaign! Can you help? Together we can help struggling individuals and families stay in their homes.

Your gift will help provide counseling and short-term financial support for low-income homeowners and tenants facing eviction, foreclosure or utility shut-off.

Please give $10 and ask 10 of your friends to join you. It’s a small way to make a BIG difference for families who are on the brink of homelessness.

Follow the Give 10/Tell 10 campaign on Facebook and Twitter. Help spread the word through your tweets by using the hashtag #Give10, and you’ll be entered to win an HD Flip video camera.

Fun facts about the $10 bill
1. The first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton is currently featured on the obverse of the bill, while the U.S. Treasury is featured on the reverse.
2. Hamilton is one of two non-presidents featured on currently issued U.S. bills. The other is Benjamin Franklin, on the $100 bill.
3. Hamilton is the only person featured on U.S. currency not born in the continental United States, as he was from the West Indies.
4. The source of the face on the $10 bill is John Trumbull’s 1805 portrait of Hamilton that belongs to the portrait collection of New York City Hall.
5. The $10 bill is the only U.S. paper currency in circulation in which the portrait faces to the left.
6. The first $10 bill was issued in 1860 as a Demand Note with a small portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the left side of the obverse and an allegorical figure representing art on the right.
7. The first modern anti-counterfeiting measures were introduced in 1990 with microscopic printing around Hamilton’s portrait and a plastic security strip on the left side of the bill.
8. Approximately 11 percent of all newly printed US banknotes are $10 bills.
9. The $10 bill has several nicknames, including: sawbuck, Hamilton, yellow, ten spot and x-note.
10. The “average life” of a $10 bill in circulation is 18 months before it is replaced due to wear.

All acroos King County, there are many hard-working families and individuals like Melissa who are literally teetering on the edge of homelessness. Wherever you look these days, the needs are growing—but so is the generosity of so many in our community.

Our Give 10/Tell 10 campaign is all about the power of community. By giving just $10—and asking 10 others in your circle of friends and family to do the same, you can raise $100 (or more!) to help a struggling family stay in their home.

So far this year, United Way of King County has helped 735 households avoid eviction or receive move-in assistance. So many more are waiting—and hoping that help is on the way.

Please give $10 and asking 10 of your friends to join you. It’s a small way to make a BIG difference for families who are on the brink of homelessness.

Follow the Give 10/Tell 10 campaign on Facebook and Twitter. Help spread the word through your tweets by using the hashtag #Give10, and you’ll be entered to win an HD Flip video camera.

We still need to raise $8,380 to meet our online fundraising goal! Please give $10 and ask 10 of your friends, family members and colleagues to join you. Need some inspiration? Take a look at some of these quotes about giving from great leaders and thinkers.

Many of these quotes are painted on the walls of United Way of King County’s office.

1. “Giving liberates the soul of the giver.” -Maya Angelou
2. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
3. “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” -Winston Churchill
4. “No one has ever become poor by giving.” -Anne Frank
5. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” -Gandhi
6. “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” -His Holiness The Dalai Lama
7. “To share often and much; to leave the world a little better; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. That is to have succeeded.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
8.  “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” -Mother Teresa
9. “Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out.” -Frank A. Clark
10. “Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.” -Anonymous

Please give $10 and ask 10 friends to join you. It’s a small way to make a BIG difference in people’s lives.

Spread the word on Twitter by using the hashtag #Give10, and you’ll be entered to win an HD Flip video camera.

Together we can help struggling individuals and families keep their lights on, put food on the table and stay in their homes. Give now>>

Photo by cbcastro at flickr.com

10 Powerful Reasons to “Give 10″

1. Your neighbors need your help! 98,630 people are out of work, compared to 45,480 a year ago, and there has been a 180 percent increase in the number of foreclosures.

2. Single-parent families, disabled veterans and other vulnerable people are having a hard time paying their mortgages and rent.

3. By joining together with 10 others in your circle of friends and family–and giving just $10 each, you can keep people from plunging into homelessness and crisis.

4. Your giving will create a ripple effect that will spread through our community immediately.

5. You will help people avoid or escape homelessness.

6. You will help provide counseling and short-term financial support for low-income homeowners and tenants facing eviction, foreclosure or utility shut-off.

7. You will help newly-homeless families and individuals get back into housing and back on their feet with one-time move-in grants for first and last month’s rent and/or damage deposits.

8. It’s a small way to make a big difference in people’s lives!

9. Your gift to United Way of King County is tax deductible.

10. It’s super easy. Just click here to give.

I learned today that military veterans are twice as likely to be homeless as non-vets. What a staggering stat! To help homeless veterans and other people in need, please give $10 and ask 10 of your friends to join you. It’s a small way to make a big difference.

I pulled these from a great compilation on the Inside Belltown blog.

1. Dick’s is offering free burgers for veterans.
2. Experience Music Project (EMP) is offering free admission for veterans.
3. Krispy Kreme is offering a free donut for veterans.
4. Applebees is offering a free meal for veterans.
5. Famous Dave’s is offering a free meal for veterans.
6. Game Works is offering discount on game play for veterans.
7. Some Denny’s are offering 20% off the entire meal for veterans.
8. Outback is offering a free bloomin’ onion and beverage to veterans.
9. Petra Mediterranean Bistro, veterans eat free with the family, veterans dining alone get 50% off meal.
10. Rob Roy is offering 50% off entire bill for veterans.

For our Give 10/Tell 10 campaign, we’re asking everyone to give $10 and ask 10 friends to join them. The money we raise will help keep struggling families and individuals in their homes.

In the spirit of “giving 10,” here are 10 holiday volunteer opportunities you can sign up for right now. You can find thousands of ways to share your time and talents year-round at unitedwayofkingcounty.org/volunteer.

Holiday volunteer opportunities fill up fast so sign up now!
1. Donate a Thanksgiving side dish.
2. Sponsor a Thanksgiving basket.
3. Prepare and serve a special breakfast for homeless women.
4. Serve dinner and pass out gifts to 200 homeless women.
5. Be a volunteer gift wrapper to support kids with cancer and their families.
6. Help with the Kirkland tree lighting ceremony.
7. Adopt a “Wounded Warrior” family.
8. Work at a holiday toy store for low-income families.
9. Clean and decorate a homeless shelter.
10. Take pet Santa photos.

Help us make it to our goal by donating your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn status update to United Way. All you have to do is update your status to the following message:

Give $10 to United Way and ask 10 friends to do the same. Together we can keep people in their homes. http://www.uwkc.org/give10 #Give10

Help spread the word on Twitter by using the hashtag #Give10, and you’ll be entered to win an HD Flip video camera.

It’s been a year now since the financial crisis hit. Just last week, the nationwide unemployment rate topped 10 percent–and the needs continue to grow.

We will get through this in time. But right now, we all need to do what we can to help the people in our community who are hurting because of the economic downturn.

“Michael” is a 60-year-old man who works hard as a manager at a local grocery store. His hours were recently cut, and his wife has only been able to find part-time work. Then their car broke down. After using their limited savings to repair the car, the couple didn’t have enough money to pay their rent. Because of United Way donors, they were able to get emergency rent assistance and start saving for the next month.

By joining together with 10 others in your circle of friends and family–and giving just $10 each, you can keep people from plunging into homelessness and crisis.

Please give $10 and ask 10 of your friends to join you. Your giving will create a ripple effect that will spread through our community immediately.

Our goal is to raise $10,000 in 10 days, from November 10-19. The money raised from this campaign will be used to help people who are facing eviction or foreclosure.

Follow the Give 10/Tell 10 campaign on Facebook and Twitter. Help spread the word through your tweets by using the hashtag #Give10, and you’ll be entered to win an HD Flip video camera.

Be a part of Give 10/Tell 10. It’s a small way to make a BIG difference in people’s lives. Give now>>

Special thanks to Comcast for generously sponsoring the Give 10/Tell 10 campaign and to Shauna Causey from Comcast for supporting our social media efforts!