United Way Of Greenville County Honors A Year Of Impact At Community Awards Celebration

United Way of Greenville County and more than 100 community partners celebrated the generosity and impact of nearly 30,000 donors and 13,000 volunteers during the organization’s 2018 Community Awards Celebration Thursday at the Greenville Convention Center.

More than 1,100 people attended the sold-out event that honored the people, partners, and businesses who make United Way’s work possible. In 2018, United Way invested in 100 local programs and initiatives working to break the cycle of poverty in Greenville County.

“We understand this community’s needs better than anyone,” said David Lominack, 2018 chair of United Way’s Board of Directors, “and nobody is better positioned to meet those needs than we are.”

In 2018, United Way activated 13,000 volunteers to give their time to improve the community, contributing 45,000 volunteer hours with an estimated value of $1.1 million in impact.

Fox Carolina’s Diana Watson, who led this year’s campaign alongside Vice Chair Calvin Calhoun from SunTrust Bank, announced recently that the organization collectively raised more than $18.2 million for its work in Greenville County last year.

This funding comes from a number of resources, including United Way’s endowment and both community and federal grants. It is also a result of gifts from individual supporters not connected with a workplace campaign, who contributed more than $1 million in 2018. These dollars, paired with the corporate gifts and collective generosity of employees across 600 workplace campaigns, produce a grand total of $18,236,845 and countless lives changed in Greenville County.

“While the money is impressive, the work that it enables in our community is most important,” said United Way of Greenville County President and CEO Meghan Barp. “Thank you for continuing to join us in the fight for education, income and health for all.”

Honors Presented

United Way presented campaign awards across a number of categories. The recognitions included:

• The Spirit Award to Diana Watson for her work leading this year’s campaign, during which she led volunteers on tours of 70 United Way partner agencies.
• The Advocate of the Year Award to Greenville Chamber President and CEO Carlos Phillips for his leadership and advocacy behind the successful passage of legislation expanding the list of non-violent, low-level offenses eligible for expungement.
• The Corporate Volunteerism Award to Michelin North America for contributing 1,177 volunteer hours in Greenville County.
• The Campaign Award of Excellence to 358 companies.
• The Chairman’s Award to 142 companies.
• The Campaign Award of Advancement to 133 companies for achieving a 25 increase in employee giving or a 25 percent increase in employee participation.
• #1 Awards were presented to companies whose outstanding support of United Way placed them first in total employee contributions:

2 to 24 Employees: Easlan Capital Inc., raising $42,325

25 to 99 Employees: UBS Financial Services, raising $93,409

100–199 Employees: AMECO, raising $131,442

200–499 Employees: UPS Inside Sales, raising $193,816

500–1,000 Employees: Nutra Manufacturing, raising $127,000

• The Top 10 Overall Campaigns (combined employee and corporate gifts) were also recognized. They are: Fluor Corporation at $2,678,912, followed by Michelin North America, Prisma Health (formerly Greenville Health System), GE, Greenville County Schools, Publix Super Markets, Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, TD Bank, UPS and County of Greenville.