United Way of North Central Arkansas hosted its annual awards reception on Thursday, July 23 in the Maxfield Room of Edward Commons on the Lyon College Campus. United Way celebrated those in our community that choose to give back on Thursday evening at the United Way Annual Awards Reception. United Way’s mantra is GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER. LIVE UNITED. and the group of individuals that were honored do just that. United Way launched its annual campaign in August and concluded the campaign at the end of June, through corporate giving, workplace campaigns, pillar pledges, individual giving and support of our United Way initiatives; we raised $313,417.62 to support our community. Allison Phelps, Executive Director said, “Thanks to the people in this room and countless others, the money we raised allowed over twenty-five thousand individuals to receive direct services and our impact reach is over two hundred and thirty thousand impressions. We are so thankful for the hard work, dedication and generosity of those who support our mission and goal.”
Personal leadership giving, The United Way Pillar’s Club, reached a campaign record high with one hundred and sixteen individuals pledging more than $500 annually.
82 Bronze Pledges – $500 – $999 annually
22 Silver Pledges – $1,000 – $1,4999 annually
6 Golf Pledges – $1,500 – $1,999 annually
4 Platinum Pledges – $2,000 – $9,999 annually
1 Tocqueville Society Member – $10,000 or more annually
Award recipients are as follows:
Award of Excellence: This award is given to the person who has shown him or herself to be wholly committed to the cause of a member agency and have proven that commitment by outstanding work done at and for the agency. This year we received several nominations, but the person receiving the award stood out among all others. Over the years this individual has volunteered in all aspects of this member agency, from founding member to maintaining the books. She currently volunteers twice per week at the agency during regular business hours and helps afterhours with preparatory work. She is constantly recruiting volunteers and encouraging others to join their cause. This year’s Award of Excellence goes to Emma Lou Hedden for her dedication to Batesville Help & Hope.
Spirit Award: This award is reserved for individuals whose spirit symbolizes the meaning of our campaign. I mentioned earlier that one of the most important aspects of our Workplace Campaigns is the campaign coordinators who ensure that each pledge card is returned and then fulfilled. Without a champion that advocates the true meaning of our campaign, we couldn’t begin to reach the levels of success that we see from this workplace campaign year after year. This individual has been instrumental for the past six years in promoting United Way within her workplace and being one of our top performing workplace campaigns. Distribution that this individual provided is priceless. This year’s Guardian Angel Award goes to Brenda Henley for her outstanding service to our organization.
Community Service Award: The Community Service Award is presented each year to an individual or group of individuals who exemplify the ideas of the United Way by devoting him or herself to outstanding community service. This group’s commitment to Community Service extends far beyond their dedication to United Way and it is with great pleasure that we present the Community Service Award to the Independence County 4H.
Pinnacle Awards: The next set of awards honor our businesses and organizations that conduct a workplace campaign with 100% employee participation. These businesses embody the idea that we are stronger together than alone and that united we can do great things. We have 5 Pinnacle Award recipients, which is another record high for our campaign.
Carter Ford State Farm
Centennial Bank
Citizens Bank
Independence County Senior Citizens Center
Kenny Allen State Farm
Industry of the Year: This is a travelling trophy that is presented to the industry which gives the highest per capita gift during the annual campaign. The business that received the award this year not only has the highest per capita, but they are also the highest grossing workplace campaign for our United Way. It is with great pleasure that we return the Industry of the Year trophy to Citizens Bank.
Leader of the Year Award: At last year’s campaign, Deanna announced that we had just received our first member of Tocqueville Society. This year, we would like to honor his commitment not only to our United Way but to United Way Worldwide as well. This person is a member of the United Way Worldwide Board of Directors , serves as the Treasurer, and has helped our United Way develop relationships with other United Way professionals across the country that are vital to helping our organization grow and prosper. We are proud to name Phil Baldwin the 2015 United Way Leader of the Year.
President’s Award: Each year we honor the past President of the United Way Board of Directors for their outstanding service to the organization. The 2015 Presidents Award goes to Marty Lehman and was accepted by Deanna Green on her behalf.
The United Way Board of Directors would like to extend a bold “Thank You” to each person who had a part in making the 2014-2015 campaign a success. Because of the hard work and generosity of our donors and volunteers, United Way was able to renew all of the Community Partners for 2015 and add two new partnerships for 2016. The 2016 Funded Partners are: American Red Cross; Batesville Help & Hope, Inc.; CASA of the 16th Judicial District; Childcare Aware of North Central Arkansas; The Community School, Inc.; Diamond Girl Scouts; Family Violence Prevention, Inc.; Independence County 4H; Independence County Senior Citizens Center; Legal Aid of Arkansas; NADC Senior Citizens Program (Izard, Sharp and Stone Counties); Ozark Foothills Literacy Project; Quapaw Area Boy Scouts; United Way Emergency Assistance; United Way Success By 6
We are able to award funding to these agencies each year based off of the success of our campaign. The United Way campaign year will begin once again in September in support of our community and the partner agencies listed above. If you would like more information about becoming a donor, volunteer or partner agency, please contact the United Way office at 870-793-5991 or by email at info@LiveUnitedNCA.org.
About United Way of North Central Arkansas:
United Way of North Central Arkansas has been mobilizing the community to advance the common good since 1981. United Way of North Central Arkansas is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase the organized capacity of people to care for one another. United Way of North Central Arkansas serves North Cleburne, Independence, Izard, Sharp and Stone Counties.
