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Sedalia-Pettis County United Way cookoff kicks off a campaign
Civic leaders put on their aprons to help 24 charities this year
The Sedalia-Pettis County United Way has set a 2010 goal of $460,000 for the annual campaign that funds 24 local charitable organizations.
United Way Board President George Thomlinson announced the goal during the organization’s Kickoff-Cookoff held Thursday at First Christian Church in Sedalia. The cookoff, a new addition to the annual campaign launch, saw 12 community members roll up their sleeves preparing either a main dish, a side dish or a dessert as they vied for a people’s choice trophy.
“We know the dollars raised by this campaign stay in Pettis County,” Thomlinson said, noting that 93 cents of every dollar donated to the campaign goes directly to recipient organizations.
Thomlinson also introduced the 2010 campaign chairwoman, longtime United Way volunteer Tammi Kreisel, who expressed confidence that the group can reach its goal despite a still-rocky economy.
The economy caused a slow start to last year’s campaign, which set a goal of $425,000. The campaign ended with a record-breaking year, spurred on by a $156,000 contribution by employees at ProEnergy Services — the largest single industrial donation in Sedalia-Pettis County United Way history.
Cara Canon, ProEnergy co-owner and a United Way board member, echoed Thomlinson’s statement, crediting the local impact of donor dollars as the motivation for her own involvement, as well as ProEnergy’s record donation last year.
“The funding all stays here, and I think that really makes an impression on people. We have to show that we all want to help and support each other in helping make our community stronger,” Canon said.
Canon also was on the kickoff committee, along with fellow board members Kreisel and The Democrat’s Editor Bob Satnan.
Satnan said he participated in a similar cooking contest for a number of years while working in Rockford, Ill., that helped raise money for a literacy group there. He said he hoped the cooking contest would become a regular part of Sedalia’s 50-year United Way tradition.
“I talked with Elle (Wasson) months ago about the possibility of pulling off a smaller-scale event here. All in all I think it went pretty well, and I hope we are able to expand on it in the coming years,” Satnan said.
Wasson, the organization’s executive director, celebrated the group’s history during her remarks to attendees, reserving special praise for United Way board members from 1977 to 1987, which oversaw record growth of the campaign and the number of agencies served.
“We owe so much to the leadership of that group. They were community changers, and we still feel their momentum today,” Wasson said.
The United Way funds 24 agencies in Pettis County. They are: American Red Cross, Association for Persons with Disabilities, Blind of Central Missouri, Boys & Girls Clubs of West Central Missouri, Boy Scouts — Great Rivers Council, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Child Safe, Citizens Against Spousal Abuse, Civil Air Patrol cadets, Community and Children Coming Together 4 Success, Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, Girl Scouts — Heart of Missouri Council, Meals on Wheels, Melita Day Nursery, Minniolia Day Nursery, Open Door Ministries, Pettis County Children’s Fund, Pettis County Fund for Frail Elderly, Pettis County 4-H, Pettis County Health Care Team, Putting Roofs Over People, Salvation Army, Sedalia Senior Center and Show-Me Christian Youth Home.
