The campaign was kicked off during Tuesday’s Pell City Rotary Club meeting. It is the fifth year the campaign was kicked off at a Rotary Club meeting, said Terry Davis, director of St. Clair County United Way.
He said St. Clair County United Way volunteers will visit local businesses during the campaign drive, which began Tuesday and will continue thought the first week of December.
“Seventy percent of our funds come from employee campaigns,” Davis said.
He said the rest of the campaign contributions come from individual and corporate donations.
Davis Worley is this year’s St. Clair County United Way Chairman. He will spearhead the local United Way campaign efforts.
Davis said this year’s goal for the St. Clair County United Way campaign is to raise $250,000.
Basically for every dollar raised in St. Clair County, $3 comes back to help St. Clair County residents in need.
According to United Way of Central Alabama, United Way Partner Agencies served a reported 25,714 St. Clair County residents in 2007, and 14 United Way funded agencies operate within St. Clair County.
Some of the community organizations supported by United Way include The Christian Love Pantry, American Red Cross, Arc of St. Clair County, Lakeside Hospice, the St. Clair Children’s Advocacy Center (The Children’s Place), the St. Clair County Day Program, the Pell City Needy School Children’s Fund, the St. Clair Department of Human Resources and the St. Clair County Literacy Program.
There are also many United Way agencies outside St. Clair County that helps St. Clair County residents, like The Amelia Center.
Andy McNiel, executive director of The Amelia Center, a comprehensive grief counseling center of Children’s Health Systems of Alabama, told Rotary Club members how United Way funds help supports this non-profit arm of Children’s Hospital.
McNiel talked about the importance of having trained counselors help children and adult overcome grief during tragic times.
The Amelia Center was named after Amelia Elliott, a 17-year-old girl who died in June of 1995 in a car/train collision in Talladega County. She was one of four teenage camp counselors working at Camp Cosby during the summer of 1995, who were killed in the deadly collision.
“The Amelia Center is a place of hope,” McNiel said. “We don’t sit around talking about death. We talk about life.”
The Amelia Center serves more than 1,000 people each year, he said.
The Amelia Center opened in Birmingham in July 1997.
For more information about the United Way and how you can contribute contact the United Way of Central Alabama at (205) 251-5131.
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