Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

ALBANY – The United Way of Southwest Georgia has been serving Albany and its surrounding communities for 70 years. The agency celebrated this milestone Tuesday morning while kicking off its 2024 giving campaign.

Community leaders from City Hall to local nonprofits came together and filled the seats at the celebration. Albany’s Mayor Bo Dorough read a proclamation naming Tuesday the official 2024 Campaign Kickoff Day in Albany.

“The mission of the United Way of Southwest Georgia is to foster our community’s capacity to care for one another by connecting resources, programs, and helping people change their lives,” Dorough read to the audience.

The United Way allocates funds to 30 nonprofit agencies, which serve more than 40,0000 members of the community. He noted that 94 cents of every dollar the United Way collects remains in the community. The organization connects people in need with crucial resources and focuses its services on three areas: health, education and economic mobility. It’s done this work since 1954, developing new ways to match the growing need for its services.

Drew Davis from the United Way of SOWEGA’s board of directors said the agency’s work strengthens the building blocks of the community: health education, basic needs and financial stability.

“When these areas are strong, our community is strong as a whole,” he said.

Dan Gillan, the CEO and president of the Albany YMCA, acknowledged the role everyone in the room had in supporting the community with the added support of the United Way.

“We’re celebrating 70 years of providing those basic human resources, responding to needs in the families and this community that we all call home,” Gillan said. “That’s powerful. That’s life-giving.”

Stephanie Hill, a local high school student, spoke about her experience as the president of Youth United in its inaugural year. The Youth United Teen Mental Health Coalition is an organization dedicated to empowering young leaders in the community through mental health education, professional skills development and community engagement. In its first year, it grew from 25 teens to almost 40, with room to add more.

Hill said she was excited about Youth United because it allowed students to have a voice and be heard. She said it made a positive impact on her life but also the lives of many others who were involved in the program’s events and seminars, which give young people a safe space to talk about issues that impact them.

“Through these events, I was encouraged to love myself more and to show kindness to others,” Hill said. “I learned that as a leader, I must lead by example.”

As part of its celebration, the United Way’s leaders reflected on the agency’s history over the last seven decades. Patsy Martin, the first female board chair and president of the United Way of SOWEGA, addressed the group. She reflected on her journey since joining the United Way in the 1980s.

As the first woman leader, Martin said she was nervous, especially at the prospect of leading the annual giving campaign in 1985. She said she pulled together a campaign cabinet of capable women who made a goal of raising $650,000 that year.

“We were determined that we were in no way going to come under our goal in that year,” she said. “We had a lot to prove. I set out the best campaign cabinet possible … and fail, we did not.”

Martin said the group raised $675,000.

“Truly United Way then and United Way today is the smart way to assist in providing needed funds so many organizations have to have to survive in our community,” she said. “But they all work together to make our community embrace an incredible quality of life for our citizens.”

Marvin Laster, the former CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Albany – one of the United Way’s partner agencies – said he came out of retirement to speak at the 70-year celebration because he believes that every person deserves a great future.

“The best way that I know to support them is by supporting the institution within the city, one of those great institutions, this United Way of Southwest Georgia,” he said.

Laster said he’s had the honor of being a college graduate, business owner and CEO.

“I stand on the shoulders of all of you,” he said. “That could not have happened … without your support of the United Way.”

He encouraged the attendees to make the 70th giving campaign the “biggest, the best … that it could possibly be.”

Michelle Thomas, who serves as a campaign consultant, said the annual giving campaign is how the United Way gives the community an opportunity to be a benefit to local agencies.

The campaign lasts until December. Thomas said people can give through payroll deduction at their jobs, by mailing checks or however they would like – they can just reach out to the United Way to figure out how.

As for the celebration, she said it’s looking back to where the United Way once was.

“Where can we go now?” Thomas said. “When you put it all together, it’s inspiring.”

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan
[email protected]