School is out, vacation time is upon us, but here at United Way our volunteers are working hard behind the scenes and prepping for this year’s campaign.
Last year we met our campaign goal of $4.125 million, and as you can imagine, a lot of effort goes into raising millions of dollars for our community. We have an amazing campaign cabinet this year being led by Campaign Co-Chairs, Mike Sanderson and Isabel Pimentel, and we are so excited to partner with these influential individuals to reimagine a brighter future for our community.
Our Campaign Cabinet sets the stage for our campaign by contacting local businesses and individuals to join us in pursuing a better community. They are committed volunteers that believe in the mission of United Way and have seen firsthand the impact of our programs. They are inspired individuals who desire to raise money to meet critical needs in United Way’s focus areas of education, basic needs, and health.
Thank you to our 2021 Campaign Cabinet for all of your hard work towards this year’s campaign thus far:
Isabel Pimentel and Mike Sanderson Campaign Co-Chairs, Engineered Floors; Zack Adamson, Engineered Floors; Amy Anderson, Amy Anderson, Human Resource Consulting; Mike Andersen, Garland Rug; Mitchell Boggs, Textile Management Associates; Amy Cole, Coldwell Banker Kinard Realty; Piet Dossche, Alexis De Tocqueville Chair; Matt Eicholtz, JMW, Inc.; Bob Hardaway, Shaw Industries, Inc.; Zac Long, Community Volunteer; Chuck McClurg, Shaw Industries, Inc.; Marianne Murry, Engineered Floors; David Pennington IV, Advanced Insurance Systems; Bart Rich, Carpet Industry Clearing House; Pete Sigmon, Shaw Retiree; Karen Townsend, Community Volunteer; Terry Wilson, Textile Rubber & Chemical; Kevin Wright, Marketing Alliance; Joe Young, Engineered Floors; Will Young, Engineered Floors.
If you are a local corporation or small business, you may be asking yourself, “Why should I partner with United Way?” I have one simple answer: because giving back to our community is more important now than ever. Many of our neighbors, friends, and co-workers are still facing hardships from a global pandemic. Simply stated, United Way’s partnership is good for business because there is a direct linkage to healthy communities through the work of United Way. Happy customers only happen with happy associates, and happy associates only happen when there is a healthy community.
United Way of Northwest Georgia has been improving the education, basic needs, and health of individuals and families within our community since the 1940s. Our dedication to the Northwest Georgia community has never been stronger and is at the forefront of our mission - Improving Lives, Inspiring Donors, and Uniting Community. Even during the pandemic, we continued to serve and made additional investments in basic needs and mental health services.
We know we have just begun to rebuild our community, and we are still learning how to live in a post-pandemic world. But there are still ways that you, as an individual, corporation, or small business, can lend a helpful hand. A great way to help our community right now, as a business, is by making a corporate gift to United Way or by having a United Way workplace campaign for your employees.
A workplace campaign gives you and your employees the opportunity to learn more about United Way along with the chance to actively participate in giving back to our community. Our call to action has always been to GIVE, ADVOCATE, and VOLUNTEER.
There are so many tools and resources available to help you set up your campaign with United Way. You can access printed materials such as posters, brochures, flyers, giving guides, pledge cards, success stories, etc., to use in your workplace. We know that there are still companies who aren’t back in the office, so we also have virtual campaign materials such as videos and digital pdfs of all printed materials to help make this year’s campaign as seamless as possible. To access our Campaign Toolkit and to learn more about our company resources, please visit www.ourunitedway.org/company-resources, or contact amy.ross@ourunitedway.org.
Another great way to help our community as a business is through corporate volunteering. Volunteer hours + corporate partnerships = meaningful impact! If you have questions or would like to schedule a corporate volunteer project, please contact stephanie.hogshead@ourunitedway.org for more information. You can also visit www.ourunitedway.org/corporate-volunteering.
We have the opportunity to do something incredible by coming together, helping, and encouraging one another at an unprecedented level. That’s the Power of a Community United!
Live United!
Amanda Burt is the President of United Way of Northwest Georgia. The mission of United Way is Improving Lives, Inspiring Donors, Uniting Community.
This article was featured in The Daily Citizen News on Saturday, July 10, 2021.