United Way celebrates accomplishments at annual luncheon

By Harry Loomis

The United Way of St. Joseph held its annual luncheon at the Restoration Church on Thursday, highlighting the accomplishments of 2023.

The meeting began with members of the organization receiving awards based on work done by a company and by individuals. President Kylee Strough said the organization has much to be proud of in the 2023 year.

“We saw just a complete resurgence of things returning to pre-COVID levels,” Strough said. “You still kind of felt some effects and you were taken some precautions and weren’t able to do full programming. But 2023, everything came back to life and we ran robust programming, our school-age programs where we send speakers into classrooms and things like that saw an uptick. We were able to connect a lot of volunteer readers to classrooms and to students and have that focus on education.”

United Way used the opportunity Thursday to hold elections for vacant board positions. Ultimately several members resumed their positions from the previous term.

“Eight members that were elected are actually returning board members,” said Terri Modlin, departing chair for United Way. “That just says a lot that people that have been part of this board want to be involved. They see the benefit of how much we’re doing and the importance of their role and the contribution. That just tells a lot about the organization.”

Organizations in town contribute to the United Way’s work by devoting time, money and resources.

“United Way of Greater St. Joseph only exists because the people and the companies in the Greater St. Joseph area want us to be here and give the dollars to make us exist and be relevant and effective in our community,” Strough said. “We have thousands of people who give individually, directly to United Way, sometimes through their employer. We have hundreds of businesses who are supporting United Way as well.”