United Way Honors Stonington Area Partners

United Way of Southeastern Connecticut hosted its Campaign Celebration event to recognize local businesses and organizations that run outstanding fundraising campaigns and volunteer year-round on behalf of United Way. More than 300 community members gathered at the Cabaret Theatre at Mohegan Sun to celebrate the achievement.

At the event, 2014 Campaign Co-chairs Brian Orenstein, President & CEO of Charter Oak Federal Credit Union, and Wayne Burgess, President of the Southeastern CT Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, announced that $5,791,303 was raised.

Throughout the program, speakers and award winners were given a piece of a large puzzle to put in place onstage. At the end, the entire display showed the many programs, services, and initiatives that United Way donors and volunteers make possible through their contributions. The final pieces of the puzzle were placed by the 2014 Campaign Cabinet members, and they spelled out the final dollar amount raised.

United Way’s highest honor, the Chairman’s Award of Excellence, was presented to Mohegan Sun. The company is a Platinum level United Way Corporate Benefactor and sponsors a “loaned employee” each year to assist United Way staff. Their weeklong campaign features leadership giving meetings and incentives to team members for contributing. In 2014, Mohegan Sun sponsored the United Way Day of Action at the Coogan Farm Giving Garden when more than 100 of their employees volunteered to clear and till the land and plant vegetables. All produce grown at the garden is donated to the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center.

Awards presented at the event to Stonington- and Mystic-area businesses and organizations were:

• Community Leader of the Year – Zachry Nuclear Engineering;
• Employee Campaign Performance of the Year – Monsanto; and
• School Campaign Committee of the Year – Stonington Public Schools.

After the awards were presented, Nikki Gullickson, Assistant Superintendent of Stonington Public Schools and a member of United Way’s Campaign Cabinet, spoke about the ALICE Project. ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.

“I see ALICE in some of the faces of the parents in our schools,” Gullickson said. “I see the stress in the parents’ faces when they’re not sure where they’ll get their next meal. I see students come to school hungry, and I see them struggle in the classroom, unable to concentrate.

“Know this,” Gullickson continued, “What you’re doing when you choose to Live United and support United Way, you are also supporting ALICE. You are champions of ALICE. Your contributions add up to something meaningful, because we don’t want ALICE to just barely survive, we want ALICE to thrive. And when ALICE thrives, so does our entire community.” Click here to learn more about the ALICE Project in Connecticut.

The Campaign Celebration was sponsored by Charter Oak Federal Credit Union so that no donor dollars were used towards the event.

United Way of Southeastern Connecticut is advancing the common good by creating opportunities for a better life for all, focusing on education, income and health. United Way engages people and organizations that bring the passion, expertise, and resources needed to get things done by donating and volunteering to advance the common good for all.

United Way of Southeastern Connecticut is a locally-based organization serving the towns of New London County.