Every year in the fall, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) participates in the State Combined Campaign (SCC). Started in 1991 when the Alabama Legislature enacted the Alabama State Employee Combined Charitable Campaign (Act No. 91-561), the SCC provides state employees with the opportunity to support meaningful charities and nonprofit organizations in our local community and throughout Alabama. For the 2022 campaign, which began in September and ran through December 31st, OIT set a goal to raise approximately $4,000 – an increase over the previous year’s goal.

Throughout the campaign, OIT held weekly prize drawings of items donated by local businesses, organizations, and individuals. These prizes helped to encourage employee participation while also providing acknowledgment and a way to say “thank you” to those who contributed to the campaign.

In addition to the weekly prize drawings, the OIT committee leading the 2022 campaign effort came up with a fun contest called “Penny Wars” which challenged Alabama and Auburn fans at OIT to demonstrate whose fanbase was the most passionate about their team! The rules of the Penny Wars challenge were simple; pennies and paper money counted as positive points for the team of your choice, and silver coins could be added to the opposing team’s jar for negative points. While both sides played their hearts out, when the dust settled it was Auburn who ended up bringing home the trophy (sorry OIT Alabama fans, better luck next year!).

Time and time again, OIT employees have demonstrated their kindness and generosity anytime a worthwhile cause or important need arises. Because of this OIT was confident it would meet its lofty goal. However, OIT employees did much more than just meet the agency’s $4,000 SCC goal. In fact, they more than doubled it by contributing over $8,600!