LUMBERTON — United Way of Robeson County recently welcomed supporters, volunteers and community leaders to their annual meeting at Adelio’s Restaurant, and handed out a bunch of awards as its way of saying thanks
Also among those in attendance were representatives of 2018 and 2019 Funded Community Partners.
Guests were welcomed by Board President Chelsea Biggs and introduced to guest speaker Dan Kenney. Kenney shared remarks about what it means to be a hero and serve the community. He included three traits that heroes share: instincts, finding ways to help others and doing more than what is expected.
Kenney used examples of everyday heroes from communities across the country to illustrate these traits and concluded by saying, “In real life heroes don’t pretend like actors do. In real life heroes won’t be found on some list on the Internet. Where you find heroes are in caring communities across this country. You find heroes in our community. Tonight, I am blessed to tell each of you thanks for being a hero to many in Robeson County.”
Kenney’s remarks were followed by the recognition of successful, high-achieving workplace campaigns, including those at Campbell Soup, Sanderson Farms, First Bank, CreCom, Lumbee River EMC, UPS, BB&T, City of Lumberton, Public Schools of Robeson County, Robeson Community College, Two Hawk Employment Services, Walmart Supercenter, US Cold Storage, International Paper and Kayser Roth.
Also recognized were Veronica Hardy, Volunteer of the Year, and Junior Volunteers of the Year Grace Burnette, Chelsea Burnette and Chadon Foreman. Tomeika Munn, the Community Impact coordinator, was recognized as Employee of the Year.
Impact numbers were shared during a presentation of the agency’s annual report. During 2018 more than 73,000 program services were provided to Robeson County residents, including 24,266 shelter stays, 554 hospice patients served, 47,424 meals served to people in need, 7,272 children provided Bak Pak Pals weekend food kits, and 7,272 young people who participated in leadership and character development programs.
Other services provided by United Way during 2018 included more than 2,000 children under 5 who received free books through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and more than 4,000 calls to United Way-funded NC 2-1-1, a resource line for health and human services needs manned by live call center associates.
A report of United Way’s work in disaster relief and recovery in the wake of Hurricane Florence also was shared with attendees. Through United Way, more than 4,000 case management hours were provided to 1,310 people. Three community giveaways were hosted by United Way, serving an additional 500 families and more than $2 million of in-kind donations were distributed through Hope 4 Home, United Way of Robeson County’s hurricane relief distribution center.
In the future, United Way will continue to seek and develop unique partnerships to meet the health, education and income needs of Robeson County residents.
Immediate plans include mobilizing volunteers across the county through the agency’s annual Day of Caring, which will take place on April 12. Event host Lumberton Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac will welcome volunteers at 9 a.m. for a day of volunteer efforts that include many options. Projects and volunteer opportunities can be found on the agency’s dedicated volunteer portal at volunteer.unitedwayrobeson.org. Activities for the public will include a car seat safety check, WOW bus, NCWorks bus, and more. Refreshments will be provided and “Day of Caring” T-shirts will be available for volunteers while they last.
