CHAD (Combined Health Agencies Drive) has announced the West Central region chair for the 2019-2020 annual statewide CHAD Campaign. Steve Stauffer, Grand Island, will lead efforts to achieve this year’s regional goal of raising $171,000 for the health charities supported by donor-focused nonprofit.
“Having Steve chair the campaign this year is particularly special, as he has had strong ties to our organization since we were CHAD. He is the perfect person to lead the campaign as we celebrate the first campaign back with our original name,” said Kari Hooker-Leep, CHAD Regional Director.
Stauffer became involved with CHAD in the early 1990s when he was working at GIA Inc., and he first chaired the CHAD Campaign in 1998. He believes strongly in the impact that workplace giving can have on the charities supported by the community. “In my experience, if you don’t make people aware of the need and resources out there and give them the opportunity to make a difference, you’re doing them a disservice,” he said. “There is strength in numbers, and every dollar is important.”
But the dollars raised by the campaign are very personal to him, too. He credits CHAD, former CHAD president Curt Gordon and the American Lung Association in Nebraska for being there when he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 1995.
“I used the resources and information they provided to make decisions that ultimately helped save my life. Not many people survive stage four cancer. I owe CHAD a personal debt of gratitude because they not only helped me but my family,” he said. “When I look at the list of health organizations supported by CHAD, I can identify personal connections—friends, family members, co-workers, acquaintances—who have been touched by these charities.”
Stauffer and his wife, Luci, have been married for 50 years and have three children, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild with two more on the way. Currently, he serves as a Nebraska Tobacco Free advocate and has been involved with numerous community organizations and youth sports organizations since moving to Nebraska from Traverse City, Michigan, in 1977. He spent 50 years in manufacturing, previously working for GIA Inc. for 31 years before retiring recently from Case IH.