“We are thrilled that this campaign has raised this amount of money so far. It was a challenging campaign, but I am always humbled by the people in this community who recognize our area’s critical needs and come through for those men, women and children who need help and assistance. Their generosity is amazing," Burris said.
“This campaign has had some highs, some lows and those that came in level with their previous year’s numbers. We are so grateful for all of our campaigns, their leadership and volunteer support is what makes the campaign the success that it is.”
Some of the highlights of this campaign are:
- Employees of City Utilities of Springfield, one of the campaign's Pacesetters, raised $158,000 during their month of Living United. That total is up 4 percent over last year.
- Employees of Greene County Government raised $22,000, up $7,000 or 41 percent, over last year.
- Assemblies of God raised $60,400.
- The associates at ARVEST Bank decided to raise the bar even higher this year, and came in at $14,000, up 19 percent over last year.
- St John’s Health employees raised $188,000, up 4 percent over last year.
- The 12th ANPAC Car Show for Kids set another record, raising $25,000 in September to help kick off the annual campaign.
- Many of our partner agencies had increases in their campaigns this year; The Arc of the Ozarks, for example, came in at $17,000!
- Associated Wholesale Grocers’ Chip in for Charity in its 4th year broke yet another record for its tournament, coming in at more than $40,000.
- Missouri State University is in at $103,000, which represents a 4-percent increase over last year.
- Jordan Valley Community Health had a tremendous campaign, coming in at $15,300, a $6,000 (60 percent) increase over last year.
- Kraft Foods of Springfield's employee campaign came in at $63,000.
”We have incredible volunteers who every year make this campaign a success. They work so hard – coming up with new ways to engage their co-workers in the campaigns and they succeeded by raising $3,455,472! The dedication and passion our volunteers and donors have for our partner agencies is inspiring. They know that the programs and initiatives United Way funds make a huge, positive impact on our community," said Jennifer Kennally, president and chief executive officer of United Way of the Ozarks.
The United Way Campaign Cabinet is made up entirely of community volunteers, who contributed many personal hours to leading the campaign. Those cabinet members are listed below by division:
Business & Industry: Division Chair, Chris Cochran, SMC Packaging; Terry Beavers, SMC Packaging; Helen Agnew, KOLR-10
Commerce: Division Chair, Tommy Smith, AWG; Steve Miller, Springfield Business Systems; Steve Blattert, AWG; Terry Leonard, AWG; Jeff Reaves, AWG; Charlie Lynn, AWG; Buddy Ball, O’Reilly Auto Parts, retired
FIRE (Financial, Insurance, Real Estate): Division Chair, Bob Berlin, Empire Bank, Nina Cogdill, Doug Page, Marita Thomas, Laura Callaway, Empire Bank
Public Service: Division Chair, Clay Goddard, Springfield/Greene County Health Department; Barbara Johnson, Agencies; Barbara Lucks, City of Springfield; Pat Dierking, Tracey O’Dell, City Utilities; Zach Adams, Jenny Edwards, Greene County; Organized labor, Kenny Boggs, Teamsters Local 245
Professionals: Division Chair, David Sims, David Sims Coaching; Angel Shortt, Old Missouri Bank
Health & Education: Division Chair, John Hursh, CoxHealth Systems; Joel Doepker, OTC; Jennifer Battagler, St. John’s Health Systems, Barbara Frogue, Cox Health; Edie Boatright, Drury University, Marty Marty, Missouri State University, Donna Trower, Evangel University; Josey Hedgepeth-McPhail, Springfield Public Schools, Mike Finch, City Utilities.
Individual Gifts: Gary & Karen Garwitz, BKD
Leadership Gifts: Darwin Bickford, Arvest Bank
Campaign Spokesman: Ned Reynolds, KY3
Labor Chair: Kenny Boggs, Teamsters
UW Agency Partner Team Chair: Barbara Brown-Johnson, Child Advocacy Center
United Way kicked off the campaign on Aug. 18 at the 2011 Day of Caring and announced the 2011 campaign goal of $3,555,000.
The campaign celebration marks the ceremonial end of the campaign, but some campaigns are still finishing up, including campaign efforts in Branson.
“We will still be working to achieve our goal up to the very last minute that we officially close the campaign”, Burris said.
For the 2011 campaign, Community Foundation of the Ozarks provided a $25,000 challenge grant to United Way, to use as a match for first-time leadership donors. The grant was matched 100 percent. A leadership donor is a donor that gives a gift of $500 or more during the campaign.
United Way of the Ozarks is a locally governed, volunteer-driven organization whose Mission is to increase the understanding of human needs and mobilize resources to meet those needs. United Way of the Ozarks funds over 60 partner agency programs and initiatives that address critical health and human service needs in a 14 county area.
