United Way sets $7 million goal

The United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley kicked off its 2015 fundraising campaign Thursday, announcing a goal of $7,011,000 to a crowd at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center.

The emcee for the program was Natalie Fultz,  morning anchor at WLTZ. And the theme was: “What’s your dream for the Chattahoochee Valley?” 

Steve Davis, president of Columbus Water Works, is chair of the 2015 campaign. Before making remarks, he did a skit, pretending to be awakened by a dream about the community.

“Everybody was just happy and smiling,” he said to the audience of about 1,000 people. “I mean, everybody was safe with prosperity, but yet there was hardship there. People were still struggling and having hard times. But it’s like they didn’t even know it because there were so many of their neighbors coming to help them through the hard times.”

Later in his remarks, Davis said there are many people in the community whose dreams have been deferred because of unfortunate circumstances. But collectively the community can help through this year’s United Way campaign.

 “In answer to the question, ‘Are we making dreams come true?’ For me, it’s absolutely, ‘Yes, we are,’”  he said, “because I’ve been honored to be working in this role and have gone and visited some of the agencies. And I’ve just been blown away by the commitment and the caring of these people that are essentially being our hands and our voices.”

Davis said this year’s campaign would break away from the recent tradition of lighter themes.

“We’re getting away from the pretend world of super heroes and all that, even though that’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “But we’re stepping towards reality. And that reality is, ‘Are we making dreams come true? You know, what are we really here for?”

This year’s goal is $11,000 higher than last year’s goal of $7 million. In February, United Way announced that it had surpassed the 2014 goal, raising $7,039,396.

Other speakers at Thursday’s event included Margalena Singer, a client of Feeding the Valley; Courtney Brown, a former client of the Boys and Girls Club, and Danielle Barefield, whose daughter is a client of Easter Seals. All three gave inspiring accounts of how United Way agencies significantly impacted their lives.

But  the star of the show was 4-year-old Kendall, Barefield’s daughter, who dropped her crutches and began walking across the stage, a little wobbly but  independently, despite having a severe case of spina bifida.

Barefield  said she and her husband were excited, expectant parents in 2010. When they learned of Kendall’s brith defect on January 7,  2011, their dreams came to a crashing halt.

“Since all those dreams were crushed, we had no dream,” she said. “Our only dream was for her to survive and for her to be happy in life. And that was it. We didn’t look too far into the future because the future was scary.”

Kendall  was born June of 2011 with the most severe case of the disability, Barefield said. A few years ago, she didn’t seem to be reaching milestones.  But through Easter Seals, the family set goals that Kendall was able to meet. And there she was Thursday, delighting the audience with her vivacious personality, as she walked and crawled across the stage.

United Way President Scott Ferguson  said people like Kendall are what United Way is all about. Earlier in his remarks, he updated the audience on progress the organization has made in recent months, serving  people across the community.

Ferguson said there were 86 homeless veterans in the community and United Way helped house 68 of them in collaboration with Home for Good, a local initiative to end homelessness.

The organization also delivered 2,300 backpacks stuffed with school supplies through its Stuff the Bus program. The backpacks went to children in 18 Title I schools in the Muscogee and Russell county school districts.  The organization targeted children from kindergarten to third grade, which is a critical time for children to succeed, Ferguson said.

Other speakers included Greer Weed, a senior at St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School and a member of the United Way Youth Council; and Susan Wiggins, vice president of stakeholder relations at the  W.C. Bradley Company.

Wiggins represented the United Way Women’s Leadership Council, which consists of several  hundred women who give $1,000 or more to the organization. She invited the audience to the fourth annual  “The Power of the Purse” luncheon, which  will be held at St. Luke Ministry Center on Nov. 18. 

Women were asked to bring new undergarments in gift bags to the luncheon for women in need. Wiggins said the keynote speaker will be Barbara Dooley, the wife of Vincent Dooley, former head coach and athletic director at the University of Georgia.

She closed her remarks with a quote from Booker T. Washington.

“Booker T. Washington thought all things were possible with hard work and education,” she said. “And he says, ‘If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.' And if you attend 'The Power of the Purse' luncheon, I promise you will lift up someone in this community that you don’t know and probably would never meet, but you’ll also lift yourself up.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 3:42 PM with the headline "United Way sets $7 million goal."