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United Way exceeds 2015 financial campaign goal
YOUNGSTOWN
The 2015 United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley financial campaign raised $2,957,115, exceeding its goal of $2.6 million by $357,115.
Campaign results were reported Wednesday at the Youngstown Community School, site of United Way’s Success After 6 after-school pilot program.
Several of the children in the Success After 6 program, which serves students in kindergarten through third grade at the school, helped United Way celebrate its campaign results by holding up cards revealing the amount of money raised and other cards saying “Thank You” to the community.
Parents of two of the Success After 6 children, Pete Johnson and Tiffany Lewis, praised the four-day-a-week after-school program.
Lewis, whose son, Landon, is in kindergarten, thanked United Way donors.
“It’s a wonderful program that my son really enjoys,” she said.
The program teaches the importance of education and discipline, said Johnson, whose son, Mason Woodall, 8, attends the program.
Among the values Success After 6 promotes is increased parental involvement, said Dennis Rice, superintendent/principal of the kindergarten through sixth grade Youngstown Community School.
Rice said the kids not only receive extra academic help, a meal and transportation to their homes, but they get to go on field trips to places they might not otherwise see.
The superintendent/principal said the plan is to offer the Success After 6 program to four grades next year and continue expanding until all of the school’s grades are involved.
“We are very appreciative to have the entire community supporting our work,” Bob Hannon, president and United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, said of eclipsing the campaign goal.
“To make the kind of positive, systemic change we desire, it takes collaboration, and we are beginning to see a real impact in our early-education work because we are working together,” he said.
While the impact work is showing positive results, Hannon said the United Way continues to strongly support the work in emergency services.
He thanked the donors, particularly General Motors, which matched dollar-for-dollar its employee contributions. United Auto Workers of America Locals 1112 and 1714 and the GM Lordstown Complex are United Way’s largest workplace campaign.
“I believe in the mission and respect the service that United Way provides our fine community,” said David Coy, 2015 campaign chairman. “The Mahoning Valley is truly a generous and special community.”