The giving spirit at Bellefontaine City Schools was on display during the first week of classes.

BCS staff members donated $29,500 to the annual United Way of Logan County campaign, easily surpassing their goal of $26,000.

The weeklong campaign wrapped up Thursday afternoon.

53 percent of the staff or 178 employees donated.

The average gift was $165.73.

Longtime high school marketing management teacher Katie Rychener led the campaign.

She said, “It is a great day to be a Chief! As we wrapped up our United Way campaign today, there was a great sense of pride present in the buildings and excitement amongst the staff surrounding the possibility that we met our goal of $26,000.

“The fact that we far exceeded our goal just reaffirms how invested Bellefontaine City School employees are in this community. We, Chieftain Nation, definitively wants to be a big part of fighting for the health, education, and financial stability of our residents in Logan County. We stepped up big this year and kicked the 2021- 22 school year off in a pretty incredible way this week. Great things definitely happen when we LIVE UNITED!”

Last year, BCS raised $23,431. It was the 10th highest campaign in the county (pictured below).

The United Way of Logan County will host a campaign kickoff event at the Logan County Fairgrounds on Friday, August 27th at 8 a.m. This year’s campaign goal is $1 million.