United Way raises $1,266,711 during campaign; organization's total community impact is more than $2 million
MORGANTOWN – The United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties officially announced Friday, Feb. 18, that it had surpassed its 2022 Campaign goal, raising a total of $1,266,711 or 105% of its goal. The announcement was made in a press conference Friday morning at Steptoe & Johnson in Morgantown. During the live press conference, United Way announced it had raised $1,212,317, but at the last minute, another $54,394 was added to the total.
“With the turn of the new year, people kept asking if we had met the campaign goal. We were so excited to let people know that we had, but we were still waiting on some campaign results to come in,” said Macall Speaker, director of development for the United Way of Mon and Preston Counties. “It came as such a great surprise when on Friday morning, one of our large corporate campaigns finally released their results, and we were able to add that in!”
The campaign, which kicked off in September 2021, raises money to help fund 39 programs at 26 agencies in the two-county region, as well as internal United Way programming, such as the Helpful Harvest Food Program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, WV211 call service and the Monongalia County Family Resource Network. This year’s theme was “We Can Move Mountains,” and the goal was $1,200,000.
Serving as the campaign chair this year was Tammie Alexander, member of Steptoe & Johnson, who made the announcement during the press conference.
“As you can see, it has been a very busy year. And as you can also see, we have an amazing, giving community,” Alexander said. “There are so many individuals and businesses – more than I can even begin to thank today – who really made this all possible. And while it was a lot of fun and games, the whole time we appreciated the significance of what we were doing and just how important it was to meet the goal this year.”
Alexander then turned over the microphone to CEO Brandi Helms, who gave insights into the total impact the United Way of Mon and Preston Counties made in 2021.
“Our work out in the community has been unprecedented in the last couple of years, mostly related to the pandemic,” said Brandi Helms, CEO of the local United Way. “But when you add those dollars raised in the campaign to the community impact dollars that we’re raising, we are well over $2 million in an investment from the United Way into the community, and so that’s something that we should all be proud about.”
For more information about the United Way, call 304-291-7525 or visit unitedwaympc.org.
