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OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - United Way of Anderson County has exceeded its $1.4 million goal for the
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Final numbers revealed! |
2010 campaign, officials announced Thursday morning.
The local United Way's 2010 fundraising campaign raised $1,416,723, a 5 percent increase over contributions made in the 2009 annual campaign, Executive Director Rick Morrow said.
"There are many superheroes in the room, and many superhero-type organizations," said Mike Belbeck, 2010 campaign chairman, and president and chief administrative officer of Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge
"This community makes it easy," Belbeck said of raising funds that support more than two dozen community service organizations and nonprofit programs.
"People give because they care. They don't give because they have to, but because they want to," Belbeck told supporters and nonprofit agency representatives who attended the breakfast.
 | | Lisa Hutchison |
Lisa Hutchison, from EnergySolutions, has first-hand knowledge of the lives that can be touched because of United Way support. Hutchins spoke briefly at Thursday's meeting, sharing a story about her late father who had Alzheimer's disease. "He would tell me that he made some new friends every day and that he talked to someone on the phone, and they talked to him until he felt better," she said.
"One day, he gave me this phone number and told me someday I was going to need it," Hutchins explained. Hutchins' father had been talking to volunteers with Contact Helpline, a local nonprofit organization that provides telephone support to those in need. Hutchins said she began talking to Contact Helpline volunteers as her father's condition worsened.
"At the age of 40, I became daddy's little girl. Growing up, he was a hard man, but he became soft (hearted) with Alzheimer's," she said, "Without a doubt, without Contact Helpline, my dad would have taken his life. Contact meant a little more time with my dad, and I got to become daddy's little girl." Lisa's story is just one example of the number of lives that are impacted by support from United Way of Anderson County, Morrow said.
 | | Volunteer of the Year David Wilson and outgoing Board President Sherry Browder. |
As part of Thursday's celebration, United Way recognized David Wilson as its 2010 Volunteer of the Year. For the last 20 years, Wilson has served as chairman of the planning committee for United Way's annual golf tournament. Wilson is currently vice chairman of the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board.
In addition to the Volunteer of the Year award, United Way recognized the top 12 corporate campaigns of the 2010 campaign year. The corporations and their campaign totals are: UT Battelle, $302,526; BWXT Y-12, $272,896; Oak Ridge Associated Universities, $96,689; WSI Oak Ridge, $50,067; B&W Clinch River, $46,294; Bechtel Jacobs Co., $44,502; ORNL Federal Credit Union, $36,540; AMETEK Inc., $35,257; URS Corp., $30,100; USEC, $32,002; SAIC, $28,495; and Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, $26,406.
Event sponsors included Shaw, SunTrust Bank, B&W Y-12, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Visionary Horizons Wealth Management, SAIC and WSI Oak Ridge. |
