PRESQUE ISLE – United Way of Aroostook officials took to the road this year as they kicked off their 2006 fundraising campaign – from an RV.

Officials decided to do something a little different this year as they try to raise $450,000, which will be reinvested in community agencies and programs.

This year, instead of hosting a series of breakfast meetings to kick off the annual workplace campaign, officials boarded a recreational vehicle with the intent of taking the show “on the road,” visiting five spots in Aroostook County over the course of two weeks, drawing attention to the campaign and handing out fundraising materials.

The RV, provided by Cushman’s Embroidery, made whistle stops Wednesday in Presque Isle and Caribou. It stopped in Fort Kent and Madawaska last week and is expected to visit Houlton at 10 a.m. Friday at the Meduxnekeag riverfront footbridge.

According to Jason Parent, president of the UWA board of directors, the new campaign kick-off was meant as a way to make the organization and its campaign more visible to the communities it serves.

“This is something we knew we wanted to try to build community enthusiasm,” Parent said Wednesday. “This is putting us right out there on the street. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to reach out to the communities we serve in a very visible way.”

The local United Way increased this year’s funding goal by $10,000, up from $440,000 last year. Officials are hoping to again exceed their goal, as they have done in the past two years, despite recent national catastrophes and tight budgets all around.

“Now it’s time to focus on the needs we have here,” Patricia Sutherland, this year’s campaign chairwoman said Wednesday during the Presque Isle stop.

Approximately 50 people attended the Presque Isle kick off event, which focused on gathering employee donations from businesses throughout the area. Officials hope to end the workplace campaign in early December. The overall campaign drive, which began in July, ends in June 2006.

Already, the United Way has reached about 20 percent of its goal, but to further energize the area on this year’s campaign, officials are hosting several drawings for round-trip tickets from Presque Isle to Boston. U.S. Airways Express/Colgan Air is providing the tickets. Local campaign managers, those who participate in workplace campaigns by donating at least $1 a week and those who attend a kick-off event will have the opportunity to win one of five drawings for two plane tickets.

Along with the drawing, UWA Executive Director Claudia Stevens announced the theme for this year’s campaign: “You are an essential piece.”

Stevens and Sutherland reiterated the theme’s significance, pointing out that every donation goes toward helping thousands of people in Aroostook County.

The United Way of Aroostook supports about 30 social service agencies in Aroostook County and last year helped more than 30,000 people in the region.

“We know we’re going to do it,” Stevens said of meeting this year’s goal. “People like you at your workplaces … make it happen.”

For more information about the event, contact the United Way of Aroostook office at 764-5197 or e-mail acunited@mfx.net.