NEWSLETTER GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER. Greater Ottawa County United Way Spring 2015 ADVOCATE The second year of the two-year community investment process has come to a close. Panel members from throughout Ottawa County came together to review program applications, ask questions, and hear from agency and program staff. Staff members reported on their program outcomes and achievements compared to Year 1 projections. All 56 programs re- viewed are within our four impact areas: Education, Financial Stability, Health and Basic Needs. Director of Community Impact Liz DeLaLuz said, “The second year of funding is yet an- other level to this competitive process; the panels are asking tougher questions and digging deeper into the program outcomes. It is where community members are making sure that the funds are going to the pro- grams that are impacting the community the most.” THANK YOU 2014-2015 CAMPAIGN SPONSORS GOLD PLATINUM SILVER DeNooyer Chevrolet Harbor Industries Haworth, Inc. Itex Trade Exchange/ West MI Barter Co. Manpower, Inc. PADNOS United Federal Credit Union Varnum Law West Michigan Community Bank WGHN PINNACLE you GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER. $2.3 MILLION GOAL CHANGE BEGINS WITH $2,314,676 raised! $2,314,676 RAISED! Representatives from Pathways, MI present their program outcomes to Community Investment Panel members LIVE UNITED LIVE UNITED Community Investment Panel mem- bers listed below were honored at this year's LIVE UNITED Celebration for their service: 5-YEAR SERVICE AWARDS Kendra Cribley, Haworth, Inc Nathan De Ridder, PADNOS Diane Kooiker, Herrick District Library Sue Strazanac, Holland Hospital Sarah VanDyke, Huntington Bank 10-YEAR SERVICE AWARDS Janet Hagel Beth Higgins, PNC Bank Jeanene Kallio, Tennant Company Rozanne Turner, Priority Health Jeanene Kallio and Rozanne Turner
Transcript
NEWSLETTER
GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER.
Greater Ottawa County United WaySpring 2015
ADVOCATE
The second year of the two-year community investment process has come to a close. Panel members from throughout Ottawa County came together to review program applications, ask questions, and hear from agency and program staff.
Staff members reported on their program outcomes and achievements compared to Year 1 projections. All 56 programs re-viewed are within our four impact areas: Education, Financial Stability, Health and Basic Needs.
Director of Community Impact Liz DeLaLuz said, “The second year of funding is yet an-other level to this competitive process; the panels are asking tougher questions and digging deeper into the program outcomes. It is where community members are making sure that the funds are going to the pro-grams that are impacting the community the most.”
THANK YOU2014-2015
CAMPAIGN SPONSORS
GOLD
PLATINUM
SILVERDeNooyer Chevrolet
Harbor Industries
Haworth, Inc.
Itex Trade Exchange/ West MI Barter Co.
Manpower, Inc.
PADNOS
United Federal Credit Union
Varnum Law
West Michigan Community Bank
WGHN
Greater Ottawa CountyUnited Way
PINNACLE
you
GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER.
$2.3 MILLION GOAL
CHANGEBEGINS WITH
$2,314,676raised!
$2,314,676 RAISED!
Representatives from Pathways, MI present their program outcomes to Community Investment Panel members
LIVE UNITED
LIVE UNITED
Community Investment Panel mem-bers listed below were honored at this year's LIVE UNITED Celebration for their service:
5-YEAR SERVICE AWARDSKendra Cribley, Haworth, IncNathan De Ridder, PADNOSDiane Kooiker, Herrick District LibrarySue Strazanac, Holland HospitalSarah VanDyke, Huntington Bank
10-YEAR SERVICE AWARDSJanet HagelBeth Higgins, PNC BankJeanene Kallio, Tennant CompanyRozanne Turner, Priority Health
Jeanene Kallio and Rozanne Turner
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ADVOCATE
For more than a year, Ottawa County has been engaged in a community wide conversation about a lack of affordable housing. A result of this process was the formation of an 18- member Design Team. This team includes leaders in the business community, non-profit, and govern-ment sectors, and is responsible for creating and implementing a cross-sector and regional strategy to pro-vide housing for all people in Ottawa County.
In September, the Design Team was tasked with gathering community input on affordable housing and completing a document making the case for more affordable housing in Ottawa County. A community sur-vey was conducted and the data incorporated into the final document.
On March 20, 2015, community members were introduced to ALICE - A Study of Financial Hardship conducted by United Way and research partner Rutgers University. ALICE is an acronym for Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed - those among us who are working, often at more than one job, yet still falling behind. No matter how hard these Michiganders try, they can't get ahead, and we all ultimately pay a price for that.
During the March 20 meeting, five strategies, identified as possible solutions to the lack of affordable housing, were described by local experts. Those strategies are Pri-vate/Non-Profit Partnerships, Inclusionary Zoning, Housing Trust Fund, Tax Credits, and Housing Case Management. A group of attendees also formed a group to discuss Income Supports. Attendees gathered around the six strategies and discussed possible implementations, po-tential roadblocks, and first steps.
If you would like to get involved, please contact Lyn Raymond at [email protected] or call (616)396-7811 x213.
Patrick Moran, Jim Schoettle and Jane Clark discuss income supports
Community members discuss housing case management
GETTING CONNECTED... REINVENTEDOn Monday, April 27, Greater Ottawa County United Way hosted Getting Connected... Reinvented at the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District (OAISD) Educational Services building.
Representatives from more than 35 health and hu-man service agencies were on hand to provide edu-cation about the services they provide, along with some fun take-aways.
Thank you to Family Fare, Fifth Third Bank, Meijer and Target for providing prizes for the drawing, including four tickets to a Whitecaps game.
United Way's Becky Staal shows an event attendee the power of Whole Family Connection to connect community members to local health and human service providers
Did you know? WholeFamilyOttawa.com is acces-sible in Spanish as well as English. If you know a Spanish speaker who could use help searching for child care, medical care, counseling, or any additional health and human service needs, please direct them to WholeFamilyOttawa.com, and they can select Espanõl from the language drop-down menu.
United Way will raise awareness by distributing our newly pro-duced Spanish rack cards to local hospitals, schools and health and human service agencies.
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VOLUNTEER
John Gork has served Greater Ottawa County United Way and others in many roles. He began volunteering as a United Way Ac-count Manager in 2010, and has championed five community cam-paigns, increasing each campaign every year. He serves as a role model and mentor in this position
and has even initiated a new campaign at his employer, North-western Mutual of Grand Haven, which has seen a 100% partici-pation rate in it’s first year.
Gork has been a financial representative and chartered life un-derwriter for northwestern Michigan mutual since 1985. He is a graduate of Wittenburg University with a bachelors of art and business. He resides in Grand Haven with his wife Martha, a special education teacher at Wesley School in Muskegon. They have two children: James, a 2013 graduate of the University of Cincinnati, and Katie, a senior at Grand Haven High School.
2015 Volunteer of the Year: JOHN GORK
LIVE UNITEDJUNIOR DAYS OF CARING
White Pines Middle School students prepare to help remove invasive spe-cies and pick up trash at Pigeon Creek Park during Junior Day of Caring
Students from Lakeshore Middle School are ready to help at the Harbor Humane Society
Throughout the week of April 20, nearly 500 students from White Pines Middle School helped clean up and remove in-vasive species at local parks during Greater Ottawa County United Way's fourth annual Junior Days of Caring, the sin-gle largest volunteer event in Ottawa County.
United Way's Director of Volunteerism Shannon Morton said, "This is a great opportunity for these students to step outside of themselves to make a difference in their community. They have fun and make a positive contribu-tion at the same time. We are also aiming to build future volun-teers and philanthro-pists who continue to give back as they grow up and enter the work force."
On Friday, May 1, another group of students from Lake-shore Middle School headed out into the community for their Junior Day of Caring. 500 students volunteered at 29 local non-profit organizations and parks.
Support for the Junior Day of Caring student transportation was provided by a $1,500 grant from the Youth Advisory Council of the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation.
2014-2015 VOLUNTEER STATSVOLUNTEERS 8,018 VOLUNTEER HOURS 128,044 LABOR SUPPORT $2,834,894
John and Martha Gork
Students remove a VCR from the creek
> $2.7MStatistics apply to the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013
Each spring, we are proud to recognize seniors who have volunteered through Students LIVE UNITED. Students who complete 100 hours receive an award from United Way, and students who complete 400 hours receive an award from the Governor of Michigan. The following seniors are receiving awards this year:
Coopersville High SchoolAlicia Ziebarth 101.5 hrs.Samantha Glass 409 hrs.
Grand Haven High SchoolTaya VanderZwaag 120.5 hrs.Adam Greer 100 hrs.Robert Conner Davison 140 hrs.Renee Weaver 155.25 hrs.
West Ottawa High SchoolAna Patchin 607 hrs.
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GIVE + LIVE UNITED CELEBRATION 2015
CAMPAIGN EXCEEDS GOALGreater Ottawa County United Way officially wrapped up its annual community campaign at its LIVE UNITED Celebration dinner on Thursday, March 26 at Doubletree Hotel in Holland. Outstanding campaign companies, nonprofit community partners and volunteers were honored with recognition and awards throughout the evening. At the end of the night, cam-paign results were announced, revealing that the $2.3 million fund raising goal was exceeded for the first time in four years. The total amount given and pledged during the 2014-2015 campaign was $2,314,676.
Campaign Co-chairs Tony and Monica Verplank were thrilled with the results. Tony said, “We are proud to be a part of such an incredible effort by the members of our commu-nity to truly make a differ-ence here in Ottawa County. Approximately 300 workplace campaigns took place in Ottawa County this year, with over 9,000 employees giving to United Way. We also received near-ly 250 donations from individuals throughout Ottawa County outside of the company campaigns.”
Monica continued, “Now these funds can be invested in the areas of education, financial stability, health and meeting people’s basic needs, the building blocks for a better life for the residents of Ottawa County. We are blown away by the generosity of our local communities, and we are proud to be a part of United Way’s LIVE UNITED movement.”
The top two campaigns were run by Shape Corporation and Haworth, Inc. Together they raised nearly half a million dollars for the campaign. Shape and Haworth continue to challenge each other for the number one campaign, and this challenge leads to a greater benefit for everyone in Ottawa County.
Greater Ottawa County United Way President Patrick Moran said, “With the funds raised through our community cam-paign, we support the increasing financial needs of the 56 community partner programs funded by United Way, as well as the programs we run under our own roof, including the Lake-shore Housing Alliance, Whole Family Connection, Students LIVE UNITED, and Schools of Hope. The dollars invested by the community into United Way directly support 1 in 4 people in Ottawa County. That is a powerful force for good in our local communities.”
Campaign Chairs Tony and Monica Verplank at Celebration
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LIVE UNITED AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED...Larry and Jeanie Koops received the...G.W. HAWORTH STRENGTH OF THE COMMUNITY AWARDThis "Lifetime Achievement Award" recognizes the company and/or individual who most embodies United Way's leader-ship, spirit of volunteering, philanthropy, and decision-mak-ing in the allocation of philanthropic resources to our com-munity.
Bethany Christian Services received the...PINNACLE OF PARTNERSHIP AWARDThe recipient of this award exemplifies a commitment to im-prove the quality of life for Ottawa County residents through leadership in service and education as well as a year round partnership with Greater Ottawa County United Way.
Peg Buehler of Shape Corp. received the...JOE MARTELLA ABOVE AND BEYOND AWARD This person goes above and beyond what is expected of a campaign coordinator. He or she is constantly looking to add excitement to the campaign, help others realize the impor-tance of United Way and encourage volunteering.
Woodward received the...OUT OF THE BOX AWARDThis award recognizes the organization that took the box, shook it up, and ran the most creative, fun and interactive campaign.
For more details, and all award winners, visit www.ot-tawaunitedway.org/awards-recognition.
Larry and Jeanie Koops Peg Buehler and Liz DeLaLuz
Cindy Timmerman, Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Lakeshore, and Matt Lantz and Director Steve Eckert of Bethany Christian Services display the Pinnacle of Partnership Award.
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2015 COMMUNITY BUILDER AWARD WINNERSEight workplace campaigns were honored with the Community Builder Award. These companies all met five criteria for giving, advocating and volunteering in the community:
Automatic Spring ProductsChildren’s Advocacy Center
Fifth Third BankGrand Haven BLP & UWUA 582
Greater Ottawa County United WayJSJ CorporationMacatawa Bank
Shape Corp.
For a complete list of companies honored with 2015 Campaign Awards, please visit www.ottawaunitedway.org/awards-recognition.
Heather Middleton displays Woodward's Out of the Box Award
The 2015 Community Builder Award recipients display their organizations' awards Sarah and Jim Lilly, Lighthouse Leadership Chairs for southern Ottawa County, enjoy the evening of celebration
Thank you to DeVries Photography for our LIVE UNITED Celebration photos!
Associates from PADNOS proudly display their Gold AwardPRIZE DRAWING WINNERS ANNOUNCEDCampaign prize drawing winners were announced during the LIVE UNITED Celebration on March 26.
Grand Prize winner Randy Hoz-eski from Haworth and his wife Sandy are planning to take a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in February 2016 for an all-inclusive 5-Night Stay at Hyatt Ziva.
Randy Patino from Shape Corp. won the ipad mini and $100 Tar-get gift card, and Haworth's Cait-
lin Terpstra won the 12-month gym membership to Anytime Fitness.
Nearly 2,300 donors who gave $52 for the first time or increased their giving by $52 or more. Thank you to our campaign sponsors for providing these prizes!
Grand Prize Drawing winner Randy Hozeski and his wife, Sandy
We have met our match!Lighthouse Leadership Circle members are shining their lights brighter than ever in Ottawa County. Leadership giving to the campaign increased 10 percent this year, to $940,155. Anony-mous donors offered a total of $60,000 in chal-lenge grants—$30,000 each in the north and the south county—to new and increased leadership donors, and Ottawa County responded! In the Tri-Cities, $63,784 of new leadership gifts came in to the campaign – and in southern Ottawa County $63,728 – easily meeting both challenges. THANK YOU Lighthouse Leadership Circle members. You are a beacon of hope to all our neighbors in need.
LighthouseLeadership
Circle
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
P A I DPermit No. 52
Holland, MI
www.ottawaunitedway.org
PRESIDENT’S PENI am so proud to be a part of this incredible community! Together, united, we exceeded our goal of $2.3 million and raised $2,314,676 this year because of the generosity of our incredible donors, campaign companies and sponsors. Thank you to each and every one of you for helping to build a stronger, healthier community.
For each dollar you give, you are providing $3.50 worth of community benefit. So, the total amount of community benefit raised this campaign season was $8,101,366. Wow!
That is definitely a number to celebrate. But, let's look beyond the numbers and think about the impact on the lives of the people in Ottawa County. With the funds raised, we are able to support 56 community programs that improve the education, financial stability, health and basic needs of more than 1 in 4 people in Ottawa County. Your gift also goes to support the Lakeshore Housing Alliance, Students LIVE UNITED, Whole Family Connection, Schools of Hope, 211 and additional com-munity initiatives.
And let's not forget...we couldn't do the great work we do without the help of our dedicated volunteers. This year, 8,018 volunteers gave 128,044 hours of their time, which was worth $2,834,894 in labor support. Our volunteers have a powerful impact on our community, and I cannot thank you enough for the gift of your time.
Do good. Fight evil. LIVE UNITED!
Patrick Moran, United Way President
GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER.
2015-2016 Board of DirectorsDavid DeYoung, ChairSarah Lilly, Vice ChairKeith Van Beek, TreasurerLyndsie Post, SecretaryLarry Koops, At-largeAnna BednarekAlicia CarrascoKevin HookEric KaelinJeanene KallioKirk KoemanRandy KorteringMichael MacPhersonRyan Powers
PO Box 1349Holland, MI 49422-1349
schoolshopeofREADINGPROGRAMS
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LIVE UNITED
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