As Georgia Southern's band blared its fight song and cheerleaders waved blue and white pom poms, guests trickled into the Savannah Convention Center for United Way of the Coastal Empire's first in-person campaign kickoff since 2019.
This year's campaign theme for the nonprofit whose mission is to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities: football and teamwork.
Stylized bullhorns with 'Team United' adorned tables, an ode to the theme made even more apparent by a pre-tailgate highlighting Georgia college football teams, performances from Savannah State cheerleaders and an exuberance that's usually seen as coaches hype up their players before a game. With former University of Georgia tackle and NFL player Matt Stinchcomb as the keynote speaker, it was appropriate.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
"We are here to celebrate team United. It's game time," said Mia Mance, director of G100 the Throwback Station.
At the top of this team's mind, however, was fundraising, community and shared responsibility.
Nonprofits all over the world weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting fundraising tactics as lockdown and a concern for public safety meant canceling event fundraisers. But throughout the pandemic, the nonprofit kept its momentum going.
Cindy Robinett, a managing director with Seacrest Partners and the 2022 United Way campaign chair, shared that the nonprofit had 15,000 donors in 2021, an increase from 2020.
By awarding grants to more than 80 programs across more than 50 nonprofits, Robinett said they were able to help 206,000 residents across Chatman, Effingham, Bryan and Liberty counties as they dealt with problems such as post-pandemic recovery, natural disasters such as the Bryan County tornado, and rising rent costs.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
The United Way staff reached its own goal of 100% participation and raised $63,232. Early results of the area-wide employee campaigns showed that United Way had raised $229,911 with help from companies such as Synovus, BankSouth and First Chatham Bank among its 2022 pacesetters. The Effingham County Board of Education came out on top, raising $106,672. In total, United Way has raised $389,436, so far.
Absent from the kickoff was a grand goal to end the campaign. But Robinett said the aim is to raise as much as they can and send out a call to action for the community to work together in raising funds.
“Our goal really is threefold: to help more people, to get more people to help, and to raise money for the community fund, so we didn't announce a specific dollar amount because we don’t want to put a limit on it.”
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Laura Nwogu is the quality of life reporter for Savannah Morning News. Contact her at LNwogu@gannett.com. Twitter: @lauranwogu_
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: United Way of the Coastal Empire emphasizes teamwork at first kickoff event since 2019
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