Granville County United Way recently celebrated its 2021 fundraising campaign and the business and industry partners whose impact made it successful. GCUW Vice-President, Gene Purvis, shared that we met and exceeded our 2021 community fundraising goal and thanked all who donated time, talent and tithes in support of local United Way efforts.
Each year, Granville County United Way honors individuals and groups for their efforts to make Granville County a better place to live by their actions, volunteerism and involvement.
2021 Granville County United Way Heart of the Community Award was presented to Sandy Whitfield of Altec Industries. Since 2009, Sandy has demonstrated a commitment to improving the quality of life in our community through her generosity, advocacy and community engagement. Sandy has helped to coordinate the annual United Way fundraising campaign at Altec Industries, served on our Board of Directors and supported our United Way by volunteering her time, resources and enthusiasm.
Charlesetta Cheatham-Smith was recognized as our 2021 Volunteer of the Year award winner in recognition of extraordinary leadership and commitment to community service. Charlesetta, Secretary/GCUW Board of Directors and member of our Executive and Finance Committee, believes in the work of United Way and the importance of giving back to our community, her home.
Our 2021 Largest Campaign Award was presented to Altec Industries, the group that raised the most money for our United Way through corporate and employee gifts. Altec employees donated $315,322 to this year's campaign - a 19.6% increase over their 2020 contribution and 74% of our community goal. Their generosity earned Altec Industries our 2021 Largest Per Capita Award as well. Altec Industries has received our Largest Campaign and Largest Per Capita Awards for the past 10 years. What outstanding service to our community and support of our United Way! Thanks to Altec Industries for their generosity and their thoughtful, engaging, humble leadership.
Our 2021 Employee Spirit Award recipient, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, ran an ambitious campaign with tremendous success. Thanks to Santa Fe employees, led by Andre Branch and Robert Terry, for your commitment to changing lives in our community.
Granville County United Way's Corporate Spirit Award honors an organization in recognition of an outstanding, developing workplace campaign. The leadership team at Bridgestone/Bandag understood the impact their efforts would have on our community and showed their caring through their generous support of our recent fundraising campaign.
One of the highlights of every annual meeting is recognizing community leaders and givers who are passionate about United Way and community and who are helping to elevate what we do to make Granville County stronger.