Blog

United Way of Southwest Alabama / Uncategorized  / United Way Sets 2014 Goal over $5 Million

United Way Sets 2014 Goal over $5 Million

In front of roughly 350 donors, volunteers, community leaders and community partners, United Way leaders kicked off the United Way of Southwest Alabama’s (UWSWA) 2014 campaign and declared their new priorities and community indicators.  The event was held at VIA Health, Fitness & Enrichment Center in Mobile for the third year in a row.

David Trent, Site Director of the Mobile Engineering Center for Airbus Americas Engineering, Inc. and the UWSWA’s 2014 Board of Trustees Chairman began the program by sharing the organization’s mission, the priorities under each of the organization’s ‘Building Blocks’ and the community indicators that will be used to track the progress of local impact.

“UWSWA’s mission is to improve the quality of life in the community.  What kind of an impact are we making? What kind of an impact the programs and services we support and fund are making? It is not just about how much we raise, but what we do with the funds we do raise,” stated Trent.  “By focusing our priorities and having community indictors to review our progress, we can collaboratively work with our nonprofit partners, corporate partners and local organizations to make positive impacts that will last generations in the areas of Education, Health, Financial Stability and Essentials.”

Building on the success of the last two campaigns, which surpassed their goals and produced nearly a ten percent increase in pledges, Don Keeler, Vice President of Human Resources for Austal and the UWSWA’s 2014 Campaign Chairman, officially announced the UWSWA’s 2014 annual campaign goal would be to see another increase and raise $5,053,305 dollars.  This would be a one percent increase over 2013 campaign’s total, which surpassed five million dollars, raising $5,003,273.

To assist in reaching this year’s goal, the UWSWA conducted their pacesetter campaign, throughout the summer.  Since April, the pacesetter campaign raised more than $1.5 million.  That is roughly 30% of the total campaign goal for 2014.

“I believe the need is great and there is no other organization in our community better equipped to assist in raising the funds needed than the United Way of Southwest Alabama,” claimed Keeler.  “I am pleased that we had a successful pacesetter campaign, but there is still a lot of work to be done.  I encourage everyone in the community to support the mission and ultimately our campaign.”

The UWSWA also recognized volunteers from organized Labor, Mobile County and throughout its three county service area.    The Mobile County Heart of Gold volunteer awards came from HandsOn South Alabama which recently merged with UWSWA.  The awards are focused on the four different building blocks.  Clarke and Washington Counties will be presenting the award to local volunteers, during their county kickoffs.

 Labor Awards:

W.O. Mozingo Community Service Award – William Byron Vice

Red Leachmann Award – Sheet Metal Workers, Local 441

Volunteer Heart of Gold Awards (Mobile County):

Health – Norma Jean Stowe

Education – Ryan New

Financial Stability – Sam Thomas

Essentials – Sharon Murrill

UWSWA Volunteer Awards:

Volunteer of the Year – Brian Jordan, FusionPoint Media

Outstanding Community Partner – VIA Health, Fitness & Enrichment Center

Outstanding Community Service – Airbus Americas

After the event, Alan H Turner II, president and CEO of the United Way of Southwest Alabama echoed the sentiments of Mr. Trent and Mr. Keeler.

“Our building blocks have helped us identify the need and the community impact model makes it possible to identify the local programs and services that are making positive gains on our new community indicators,” stated Turner.  “We can’t do it alone, nor can any one organization or agency do it alone.  It’s about what we can achieve by working together, by working as a team, as a community.  We are improving lives by uniting and mobilizing resources to support our building blocks.  We ask that everyone join us.”

The event was sponsored by Kimberly Clark and free of charge to all in attendance.  The UWSWA’s 2014 campaign will be conducted until Mid-November.   If you are interested in participating in this year’s campaign or learning more about the UWSWA, you can call the office at 251-433-3624 or visit their website at uwswa.org.

About United Way of Southwest Alabama
The United Way of Southwest Alabama (UWSWA) serves Mobile, Washington and Clarke Counties.  Created in 1926, as a Community Chest, the UWSWA’s mission is to improve the quality of life in the community.  The vision is that the organization will strengthen communities by focusing on uniting and mobilizing resources in support of the building blocks for a better life: Education, Financial Stability, Health, and Essentials. The UWSWA has raised and invested more than $240 million into our community to help strengthen the capacity of positive community progress.  Many of these issues that affect our community are addressed by the funded programs and initiatives that help more than 600,000 local people each year.  For more information visit www.uwswa.org