Mixed in between all the campaign signs that are littering lawns across Cayuga County are signs that say Live United / Give United, put out by supporters of the Cayuga County United Way. While the signs for the winners and losers of Tuesday can now come down - the United Way has less than a month left in its annual giving campaign and it could use your help, especially this year.

The need for assistance is even greater than in most years, not because the nearly two dozen member agencies need more financing (they do, not necessarily to deal with high costs, such as fuel, which they do, but increased demand for their services), but because the massive downturn in the economy is also hitting charitable giving.

As the economy gets worse, so does the ability of those who give to do so at previous levels, let alone increase it. That clearly is the case this year. Even before the drop in the stock markets over the last 45 days, the Cayuga County United Way knew it was faced with a major hole in its giving.

The United Way was told that the normal campaign that occurs at Honeywell, in Skaneateles Falls, a company that employs roughly the same number of Cayuga and Onondaga county residents, was not going to allow the local United Ways, as the previous owners did, to do their annual asks on site. This was not because Honeywell is a bad company or a non giving one; they just have a different corporate process on how they aid not-for-profits. The end result was that before the United Ways kickoff in late September it was facing a $100,000 loss from the generous employees at that company.

This, by the way, does not mean that Honeywell employees are not giving, they are, but without campaign volunteers on the ground, in the plant, it makes it tougher to raise that amount. Unfortunately the news on the Honeywell front isn't getting any better - not only was there the announcement of moving some jobs to China this summer, but some employees were informed that they should not expect Christmas bonuses this year. With the massive drop in the stock markets, one can expect that the foregoing of Christmas bonuses at many local companies, besides Honeywell, is not going to be an anomaly.

The end result is that this will have a detrimental impact on groups that depend on fundraising to provide their services to those in need, such as the United Way.

With all this in mind, there is a greater need for your help this year. Now that the political campaign is over, it is time to focus on the other one closer to home. Please send what you can to: The Cayuga County United Way, 17 E. Genesee St., Auburn, N.Y. 13021.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com