United Way celebrates successful year
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on February 25, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/KIRSTEN BALLARD
Becky Brock poses with her 2014 Campaign Coordinator of the Year award at Tuesday's United Way annual meeting.
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News-Argus/KIRSTEN BALLARD
Geoff Hulse displays his Emil Rosenthal Award, which honored the contributions he makes to the community and United Way.
Becky Brock is the good.
The human resource generalist at Cooper Standard Automotive has given to United Way for 20 years.
In 2013, Cooper Standard gave what Ms. Brock describes as an embarrassing amount.
Last year, she set a goal for the company -- $1,000 per week. Through hard work and determination, the employees increased their gift by 1,000 percent and met that goal.
The company raised $50,000 and received a matching grant from its foundation. The matching grant pushed the United Way over its goal for 2014 when representatives presented it as a surprise in December.
At Tuesday's United Way of Wayne County Annual Meeting, Ms. Brock was honored as the 2014 Campaign Coordinator of the Year.
"It feels good," she said. "A lot of hard work went into this."
At the annual meeting, 2014 Campaign Chairman Glenn Phillips thanked volunteers for making the campaign possible.
The 2014 goal was to impact 23,008 lives, and on Dec. 16, with the matching grant from Cooper Standard, United Wayne met that goal.
"We needed to make sure we could meet that goal without (the grant)," Phillips said. So the volunteers continued to work diligently.
At the Tuesday meeting, Phillips announced that the campaign reached 106 percent of the goal, helping 24,385 lives and raising $1,219,225.
He credits the success to his team of volunteers. "I had the easiest job in the world," he said.
Phillips honored the corporations that helped the campaign.
The Spirit of Wayne awards went to Anchor Coupling, Goldsboro Builders Supply, Goldsboro Milling Co., Turner Equipment Co., Park Designs and Cooper Standard Automotive.
Turner Equipment was given the Bush Andrews Award for achieving 80 percent Fair Share giving.
Geoff Hulse was given the Emil Rosenthal Award. The award goes to volunteers with a strong commitment to service, concern for the welfare of others and the ability to motivate others.
"He strives to make life better for all," Phillips said when presenting the award.
Hulse says he was raised in a family with the volunteer spirit. His wife is involved in United Way as well, and the couple have passed on the importance of volunteering to their children.
"I am honored," he said. "I'm not the volunteer of the year. I'm accepting this award on behalf of all of the volunteers."
University of Mount Olive adjunct professor Gail Herring was the keynote speaker at the breakfast.
As an educator, she informed the audience of the chilling statistics. If children are not reading on grade level by third grade, they are more likely to drop out.
"We need to level the playing field for those children," she said.
United Way is moving into its 90th year of giving. The organization's board is focusing on early childhood education, focusing on ages up to 10.
The board of directors wants to focus on preventative services and programs that will challenge the root causes of many community issues.
As an example of the commitment, members of the board presented a Strategic Initiatives Challenge Grant of up to $12,500 to the Boy Scouts' Tuscarora Council.
This pilot program is a collaborative effort with the Goldsboro Housing Authority to serve 125 youths within four community housing areas of Goldsboro.
In the 2015 season, the United Way of Wayne County will host the Founders Cup on April 24, the benefit concert on Aug. 21 and the 25th Annual Taste of Wayne County on Oct. 10 as fundraisers.
Ms. Brock says her boss has challenged her to double her efforts in 2015.
"I want to meet what I did this year," she said. "It's about helping and bettering the lives of others, helping them get those basic things."