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What We Do Now will Shape the Community for Years to Come

Stacy Juchno’s parents taught her that there’s no substitute for hard work. At 15, Stacy’s first job at a fast food restaurant “showed me what it was like to work hard for very little.” The experience motivated her to focus even more on school and develop a clear career path. It also gave her a window into the plight of financially struggling families: “This was how some of my co-workers supported themselves and their families. I couldn’t imagine how, on such a small income, you could weather the unforeseen circumstances that life throws at you.”

As a young student growing up in Erie, PA Stacy considered a variety of different professions. But when she took a high school accounting class she found that she liked the challenge, and she was good at it. When Stacy and her identical twin, Jennifer, headed for Gannon University in 1994, Stacy knew what she wanted to do: “Accounting was an easy choice, not only for a college major but for a career.” She joined PNC Financial Services Group in 2009 and has served as Executive Vice President and General Auditor since April 2014.

Stacy’s high standards and strong work ethic have ensured her continuing professional success, but she hasn’t forgotten where she came from or the importance of giving back. Stacy was inspired by the community involvement of a dynamic young colleague, Stephanie Garbe, but she “struggled for a while to find my own passion, and to determine which organizations meant the most to me.” Her charitable giving seemed spread a little too thin: “I felt like I was giving something to a lot of organizations, but was always wondering if it really was making a difference. I’ve since become very involved with supporting Veterans and women.” Stacy joined the Tocqueville Society because “I have been so impressed with United Way, and how it allocates out contributions. I realized that my contributions to the causes I care about could go further with United Way.”

Change Starts with Those Who Can Give Back

Mike and Steffanie Jasper met as undergraduate students at Georgetown University, where they were both on the track team. She was from Erie, PA. He was from the Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It was romance from the starting signal. “I was a freshman and he was a junior,” Steffanie smiles. “We met almost as soon as I got on campus.” That was in 1989. They’ve been together ever since, even maintaining their relationship long-distance while Steffanie stayed in DC to finish her degree after Mike graduated. Both currently enjoy satisfying, demanding careers at PNC Financial Services Group, where Steffanie is Senior Vice President & Program Manager, Transformation Management Office, and Mike is Vice President, Competitive Analysis.

As a couple, Mike and Steffanie are grounded in shared values that they learned as children. “I think that having a really stable, strong home environment is a key factor to success,” says Mike. “I’ve been pretty blessed on that front.” Mike sees “a tangible difference” between himself and “other individuals I knew growing up who did not have some of the basic things that a lot of people take for granted: a stable household, stable routine, parents or guardians who provide direction, love, leadership, and discipline.” Steffanie agrees. “I grew up with just my mom,” she explains. “I saw how she struggled from time to time, but she always emphasized the importance of having a routine, having responsibilities. I was a latchkey kid. I had things I needed to do everyday, and they needed to get done by the time my mom got home. She was instilling that sense of discipline, guidance, and responsibility, and if she hadn’t done that I think my life would have been very different.”

It’s this sense of endless, but too often unattainable, possibility that has inspired the Jaspers’ commitment to youth causes. Both are very active in organizations that serve children. “Kids have to be given a strong foundation to become whatever they want to become,” Mike says. “Without that, their options become very limited. They can make the wrong choices.” Because of where he grew up, Mike understands that kids from disadvantaged backgrounds “have the opportunity to do great things. They need someone to believe in them, paint a different picture for them, so that they don’t think their lives are destined for tragedy or failure just because that’s all they see.” As Stefanie puts its, “It’s very important to show that there’s always an opportunity for your life to change. You can do whatever you want to do; you just have to go for it. But you need to know what resources are out there to help you. You need to know that you’re not in this alone.”

The Jaspers have been United Way donors at some level for all of their working lives, at first because the agencies they believe in are so reliant on United Way’s support. Soon, however, they came to appreciate the substantial impact of their contributions to United Way. Steffanie explains: “People may feel that their dollars go further if given directly to a single organization. That helps one agency. But you can help more organizations, and touch more people, by contributing to United Way, especially at the Tocqueville level of giving. Now that we’re more engaged I’m learning so much about the programs United Way makes possible. PA 2-1-1 SW, for example, connects so many people to so many services. It’s fantastic. United Way does more than any single agency can do.” Mike adds, “I’ve been on charitable Boards of Directors since the early ‘90s, and there’s only so much time to give. Being part of the Tocqueville Society is a way to give from the resources with which we’ve been blessed, on a scale that really makes a difference. It’s been a great opportunity to share our life and our charitable experiences with others, too. The more we can talk about that with other people, the better.”

The imperative to give back isn’t an abstraction to the Jaspers; it’s personal. “I have yet to meet anyone at any level of success in life who has done it solely on their own,” says Mike. He cites himself as a prime example. “I can think of a lot of people who’ve helped and benefited me, from the time I was a kid and all through my career. They didn’t have to help, but they saw something in me. You have to seize opportunities that people give you, but there’s some humility in recognizing that you’ve benefitted from the generosity of others.”

The Jaspers are imparting these values to their three children, ages 14, 12, and 6. “It’s important for us that our kids see that we give back,” says Steffanie. “They are very blessed, as we are. They need to see that not everyone has the same opportunities, and it’s important for them to understand how much it benefits us to help others.” They also want to set an example for other children: “Frankly,” Mike says, “children in inner cities, specifically African American children, need to see African Americans in positions of leadership, modeling stability and giving back.” Steffanie concurs: “In order to see and effect change, it’s important that everyone gets involved. It starts with those who can give back. It’s important that they do.”

United Way Always Has a Place When We Think About Helping the Community

Charlie Ferrara was a rising young executive at Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in St. Louis when he was appointed Managing Partner of the Pittsburgh network office and relocated here with his wife, Jackie, in 1975. It wasn’t long before local corporate leaders, noting the steady growth of the Ferrara Group in Pittsburgh, introduced Charlie to United Way. “About ten years after Jackie and I moved here I got a phone call from Bob Bozzone, ” Charlie recalls. The then-President and CEO of Allegheny Ludlum told Charlie, “You need to learn something about United Way. We’re having a meeting and you need to be there.”

“You could say we got involved with United Way because Bob Bozzone caught me by the scruff of the neck,” Charlie laughs, “But it was perfect timing.” Until then Charlie and Jackie had mainly focused on work and on raising their four children. “I hadn’t had a lot of time to think about philanthropy, but the moment was right,” Charlie says. “We were getting to the stage in our lives where we had the mental freedom, and a little time and money, to get involved.” The Ferraras have been United Way supporters ever since, based on what Charlie realized at that fateful breakfast meeting: “There are all these worthwhile organizations that are doing really great work,” he says. “I’d give them some money if I knew about them, but I don’t. So I’ve always looked at United Way as the entity that does the due diligence for me. United Way identifies important causes and selects great agencies to do the work. Compared to that, my job’s pretty simple. I give, and United Way distributes my donation. It’s our way of looking after other people in the community. That’s our philosophy, and that’s why we’ve always been so supportive of United Way.”

Charlie has shared his time and business acumen, too, at first serving on United Way’s Impact Cabinet and consistently holding a seat on United Way’s Board of Directors until two years ago. About ten years ago he also agreed to chair the Tocqueville Society for one year that became three. “We succeeded in acquiring many new Tocqueville members. In fact, one year I think we actually won a national award. I could have been a little more successful at finding my successor,” he smiles. “But in the end it worked out pretty well.” Charlie and Jackie make a point of attending Tocqueville Society events: “I think that attending is a signal of support. When people see you at these events, and you see them, that furthers the cause. Essentially, you’re all saying ‘I believe in United Way.’ There’s a ripple effect that I think is very helpful.”

Charlie remembers a time when Pittsburgh’s corporate glitterati hosted exclusive private Tocqueville events for members at their homes. These popular events occur less frequently now; this is just one of the effects of a sea change Charlie has witnessed in the local corporate landscape. “When we moved here Pittsburgh was ranked third in the country in corporate assets, behind New York and Chicago. It was relatively easy to run a campaign when United Way could just go to US Steel or Gulf Oil. Those days are over. Now we need to look to the people in our local firms. Those aren’t really small businesses. But they’re very successful and there are a lot of them. That’s our challenge. It will take a little more work, but the flip side is that those people have great capacity. I’m sure many of them are as interested in philanthropy as others have been before them. Current Tocqueville Society members can help United Way by identifying people who have very successful enterprises but perhaps are flying under the radar.”

One thing hasn’t changed since 1975: in Charlie’s experience, Pittsburgh is still a place where charitable giving is a win-win proposition. “Years ago when I moved to Pittsburgh I made a courtesy call on Fletcher Byrom, the Chairman of Koppers Corporation. We were having a nice discussion, and he said to me, ‘Charlie, there’s really only one thing you need to know about Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is a big enough town that a person can do something significant, but a small enough town that it will be noticed.’ That’s still true. It makes a big impact when a person steps up.” Charlie admires the large Pittsburgh corporations that are working with United Way to solve the community’s problems. “”I give them a lot of credit,” he say. “But we have to go deeper. We have to get out there and tell our story.”

Charlie and Jackie have been telling that story by living it. They are both quite active in the community and directly support a few select charities. “We do have some other interests that we try to support, but United Way always has a place when we think about helping the community,” Charlie says. “It goes to what I said earlier. United Way helps all these people, agencies, and causes that I would help if I knew they were there. That’s the concept we have to get across. That’s the concept that would get more people to say, ‘this is the way I support my community.’”

Giving Back: A Good Habit That Should Start Early

Jayme Butcher, a partner at Blank Rome, LLP since January 2015, concentrates her practice in the area of complex commercial litigation. Her work has taken her all over the country and has been nationally recognized; in 2011 Super Lawyers named her a “Pennsylvania Rising Star,” a prestigious honor bestowed on only a very small percentage of lawyers under the age of 40 after a stringent selection process. Jayme can trace her career trajectory back to the cheese factory where she worked every summer during college. “I have to say that working on an assembly line was a life lesson that still pays dividends today,” she says. “I decided then that whatever profession I selected needed to challenge me every day. It also made me very grateful for my education and the other opportunities I’ve had.”

Jayme was first introduced to United Way when she joined Reed Smith as a young associate in 2001. Since then she’s contributed to United Way every year, and she and her husband Joe became Tocqueville Society members in 2013. The Butchers are not native Pittsburghers, but “we can’t imagine raising our daughter or working in any other city. We’ve met so many wonderful people here, and it’s been a privilege to connect with people in the donor groups at United Way.” She urges anyone who is thinking about joining the Tocqueville Society not to hesitate. “You will never regret it. Not for one second. The people that you will meet, the differences that you can make, and the impact that you can actually see from your efforts right here in our community will make you glad every day that you got involved.”

That was definitely Jayme’s experience as co-chair of the United for Women Selection Committee during the 2015 competitive proposal funding process. “Women helping women is something that I’m very passionate about,” she says, “and United for Women is a tremendous example of that phenomenon. The fact that a group of women got together, decided to find a way to help women who are in crisis for the first time because of an unforeseen life event, and then raised over three million dollars to do it is just amazing. I’m proud to be a part of it.” Giving back to the local community is a priority for the Butchers, and Jayme strongly feels that this is a good habit that can’t start early enough. She and Joe are “already looking for ways to get our 9 year old daughter involved in community service. We want her to understand how critically important it is to be a contributing member of the community. We want her to see that everyone has something to give.”