From a golf tournament to a gingerbread house contest, a fundraising campaign at Charles Town Races & Slots included events that added up to a record-breaking donation.

Leaders from the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle said they were thrilled Monday to receive a $55,000 contribution from the racetrack, especially because it’s the largest single donation from a workplace campaign in the nonprofit agency’s history.

“We are so grateful to the management and employees of the track for their generosity,” said Ken Tyler, the 2008 campaign manager for the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle. “This gift gives us significant progress toward our goal of $1.4 million.”

Tyler said the racetrack leaders have shown that they care about investing in the community by helping the United Way, which includes more than 40 agencies in Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties.

Al Britton, the general manager at Charles Town Races & Slots, said everyone at the track is happy to help the United Way because it’s such a good cause.

“It’s an effort that we believe very strongly in,” Britton said, adding that he was excited to hear that the $55,000 donation broke a record for the largest corporate contribution. “That’s quite a distinction.”

The track’s fundraising campaign co-chairs are Bill Bork and Jeff Pietz, who said they hope to set a new record next year.

Bork said a large amount of the funds were received from employees who volunteered to donate money from their payroll, and that added up to nearly $20,000. Other fundraising events included a golf tournament at Cress Creek in September, silent auctions for sporting event tickets and jewelry and a day when employees donated $3 each to wear jeans to work.

Pietz said another event was a gingerbread house contest, which involved employees from 12 departments who decorated the holiday cottages. Employees voted by placing money in empty water jugs that were placed next to the houses, and the event raised about $500. He said even the smaller events added up.

The United Way of the Eastern Panhandle uses donations to invest in a variety of programs, such as local chapters of the American Red Cross as well as organizations that benefit children and seniors.

CHARLES TOWN — With a flurry of volunteers working to stack pallets full of goods like oatmeal, baby food, juice and an assortment of canned items, the employees of Charles Town Races & Slots quickly accumulated a hefty donation for the Jefferson County Community Ministries.

So hefty, in fact, that it surpassed the total amounts of food collected during their drive both last year and the year before that, said human resources manager John Mauck.

A total of nearly 26,500 pounds of food — more than 13 tons — was collected by nine departmental teams during a two-week time frame, Mauck said.

Employees do most of the donating, he said, though the company added an additional 1,200 pounds of turkeys and hams onto the total donation for the upcoming holiday season.

“This is a way we connect the racetrack with the community,” Mauck said.

More than 6,000 pounds of food were transported from the racetrack to the Community Ministries food pantry last week, Mauck said, and the remainder was delivered Thursday morning. About 30 employees volunteered to help build pallets of food, load them onto trucks and then unload the goods into the food pantry.

“It lets them get ready for us,” he said. “Last year, we stocked their food pantry until springtime.”

In 2006, more than 19,000 pounds of food were collected by CTRS employees, and nearly 15,000 pounds were collected in 2005.

“Each year, they have really increased (their totals),” said Bill Willingham, executive director of the Community Ministries, located on West Washington Street in Charles Town.

The organization, described by Willingham as “the second-best thing in Jefferson County, next to the Department of Health and Human Resources,” offers clothing, food, bulk fuel, gasoline and temporary shelter to qualifying county residents.

Assistance with terminating utility bills, rent eviction and medication is also available through JCCM, which has 48 member churches and a number of other local clubs, organizations and governmental programs that provide additional assistance for its clients.

“I came here three years ago,” said Willingham, who has lived in Jefferson County his whole life. “ I had no idea the magnitude of this organization.”

In 2006, a total of 2,400 families were helped in some way through the Community Ministries. Of those families, more than 1,800 were served by the food pantry alone, Willingham said.

While other organizations and companies in Jefferson County also donate food in amounts ranging from 5,000 to 6,000 pounds, CTRS is the largest organization helping to stock the pantry, he said.

Help in any amount is always needed, especially this time of year.

When children return to school, the pantry starts to get hit hard, Willingham said. Couple the season with increased financial strains being placed on those adhering to fixed incomes, and even more help is needed.

The CTRS food drive provided not only a large quantity of food items, but also a great variety for the pantry, Willingham said.

“This will take us up until the spring,” he said. “I’m hoping it takes us even farther.”

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Thunderstorms on Friday evening forced participants in the sixth annual Relay for Life from the outdoors into Shepherd University’s Storer Ballroom, but the relay continued into the overnight hours, according to individuals participating in the event.

The relay is part of the national event organized by the American Cancer Society to raise awareness and money for cancer research. Many of the participants were Shepherd University students.

“To see college kids be so involved in looking for my cure ... I just think it’s phenomenal,” said George Blough, team leadership and development chairperson of the Berkeley County Relay and an 18-year ovarian cancer survivor, who was at the relay to show her support.

Holly Morgan Frye, director of Shepherd University’s Student Community Services and Service Learning, said “we chose the American Cancer society because cancer affects everybody. It knows no gender (or) race.”

She said that last year the relay raised $63,000 for cancer research and this year, participants raised $50,000 for the cause before the event even started. She said that their goal this year after the 12-hour relay is $85,000. The main sponsor of the event was Charles Town Races & Slots who donated all of the boxed dinners for the participants. Volunteers from Charles Town Races & Slots came together and served over 800 who walked throughout the night. Individual employees from the company also donated and added to the community goal.

The day’s events were kicked of at 4 p.m. by a torch run down German Street onto the university campus. A torch that represents hope was passed between several cancer survivors while sponsored teams walked with banners behind them.

At 6 p.m., there was a special survivors lap to celebrate those who have overcome cancer.

Colleen Miller, a Shepherd alumna who has lived nearly five years with breast cancer, said that she is participating in the relay in memory of her father who died from cancer last year.

“This is what’s good about it,” she said. “Seeing these kids as excited about something as devastating as cancer ... just warms my heart.”

Keri Short, a junior at the university, was at the event selling luminaries, candles in paper bags with the names of loved ones who either died from or are living with cancer which were to be lit at 9 p.m. in the shape of the word “hope.”

Many different campus groups were in attendance to show their support for the cause.

The Shepherd University Catholic Campus Ministry formed a team called “Rosary Runners” for the relay.

“We chose the rosary because ... we still have many people in our tradition who pray by means of the Rosary,” said Gwen Skrabak, campus minister.

“A lot of us have lost friends to cancer,” said Sarah Bryan, a student member of the ministry.

Patt Welsh, who has lived with breast cancer for one and a half years, said that she isn’t walking in the relay for herself.

“Even though I’m a survivor, I’m doing it for others,” she said. “If I can reach one person, I’ve done my job.”

Buddy Wilson, a Shepherd graduate student, said he’s been participating in the relay since he was an undergraduate at the University.

“For me, relay is an event that honors people who have gone through or currently are going through an experience that no one deserves,” he said. “The main reason we’re here is to raise money for cancer research in order to ultimately find a cure.”