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It's been a wonderful start to the new year! It is inspiring and overwhelming to witness the generosity of our Central Georgia community each year.
We rang in 2023 with our 15th Annual Jeff Smith Auto Raffle! Our staff and volunteers answered phones at Jeff Smith Ford in Byron throughout our two-day telethon. Not only did those phones ring off the hook for a chance to win a car, but they also raised money for United Way. In all, we sold 5,280 tickets and raised $184,800 to help families in need. A big congratulations goes out to our grand prize winner, Gwen Sutton, an employee of Piedmont Hospital!
Additionally, we began the New Year by celebrating our generous donors with our Leadership Giving Annual Report. We are pleased to share our achievements and recognize our J. Clay Murphey Society and Tocqueville Society donors in this report.
A special thank you to the Peyton Anderson Foundation for their generous $100,000 grant in honor of United Way's 100th anniversary and for recognizing us as a "good-doer" in the community.
The 2022-2023 campaign is also off to an amazing start, with many of our workplace campaigns exceeding their goals! Our school districts in Bibb, Houston, and Peach Counties, Mercer University, our financial institutions in our community, Cadence Bank and Robins Financial Credit Union, and our local government partners, Houston County Board of Commissioners and the City of Warner Robins have exceeded their campaign goals! I would like to thank them for their efforts!
Our new United to End Homelessness initiative will be at the center of our efforts in 2023. Our next step will be to conduct a count of those experiencing homelessness in Macon-Bibb County to get a more accurate picture of our work ahead. The count will take place in the next few weeks and be led by Rev. Dr. Jake Hall, executive director of the United to End Homelessness Initiative. We will need volunteers to help with the count. Be on the lookout for more information about this important opportunity for our community.
We continue to work to make public schools the hubs of the community through our strategy Community Schools United. Laundromat Libraries, its latest project, is slated to launch on January 27. This project aims to get as many books into the hands of kids as possible, by providing small libraries in neighborhood laundromats.
Taking on New Year's resolutions is always a worthwhile idea, and we hope volunteer work is one of them. Our VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) centers are looking for volunteers. Join the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and prepare taxes for free for your community. VITA volunteers make a direct impact on the financial well-being of thousands of households in their communities by helping them maximize their refunds and receive one of the largest paychecks of the year, their tax refunds. Sign up to assist here.
And last but certainly not least, we can't wait to celebrate and honor Central Georgia’s highest achieving, engaged, and hard-working high school seniors at our 46th Annual Golden Eagle Awards event in May. Nominations and applications open soon!
We are so excited about the opportunity to continue helping our most vulnerable community members get on a better path through our programs, initiatives, and strategies in the upcoming year. This is all possible because of you and your support. Let's celebrate 101 years of improving lives in Central Georgia!
George McCanless
President & CEO