Thank You to the Stars of United Way of Erie County
On February 15, 2012, the United Way of Erie County hosted its Final Report Meeting and Volunteer Recognition at the Quality Inn & Suites in Sandusky. At the event, United Way would share the progress on the annual campaign as well as recognize those who helped to contribute to the success of this past year’s campaign.
The theme for the 2011-2012 annual campaign has been “Be a Star for United Way. ” We embraced this theme because it truly expresses what goes on behind the scenes of the organization. So many businesses and individuals come together to enable United Way to do its work within the community. We all know that no one group or organization can make change, but that it takes all of us working together, to advance the common good, so United Way can invest in the programs that will benefit the residents of Erie County.
The first successful event of the campaign was the introduction of the Pacesetters. The four companies that lead the campaign were Citizens Bank, Sandusky Register, Goodwill Industries, and Janotta & Herner. In addition to the 4 companies, several members of the United Way Keel Club were also Pacesetters. The Pacesetters set the pace of increased workplace giving, and many companies followed their example and did just that. We kicked off our campaign with 14% of our goal.
The second successful event of the campaign was to increase in the number of new donors. This year, United Way was able to increase its donor base by 393 donors. Those 393 people contributed $45,119 to the 2011-2012 annual campaign.
Below is a list of the award categories that were presented, the amount that had to be given to reach that award status, and the total amount given by all the donors of that award category to the campaign:
| Award Name | Amount Needed to Receive Award | Total Amount Given by Award Recipients |
| Oscar Award | $10,000 and Up | $223,573 |
| Star Award | $5000 - $9999 | $47,038 |
| Featured Star Award | $1000 - $4999 | $42, 126 |
| Supporting Stars Award | $500 - $999 | $17,069 |
| Cast Award | $100 - $499 | $8,871 |
| Upcoming Stars Award | Under $100 | $1,021 |
We would also like to thank our Stars of Dineout, which are the following 14 restaurants that participated in United Way’s Dineout which contributed $3,599 to our campaign!
| Angry Bull | Berardi's | Cookers Bar & Grille |
| Cold Creek Cafe | Crush Wine Bar | Danny Boys |
| J Bistro | Lee's Famous Recipe | Mona Gourmet Pizza |
| Mr. Smith's Coffee House | Outback Steak House | Perkins Restaurant and Bakery |
| The Pie Factory | Zinc Brasserie |
We also want to include a special thanks to the following for being our Producers, who were a great help to us behind the scenes in ways other than donating:
| Ryan Arthur - Buckeye Cable | Douthit Printing |
| City of Sandusky | Wayne Foster |
| Johnson Photography | Kahalari |
| Quality Inn & Suites | Sandusky High School Gentleman's Club |
| Sandusky High School Orchestra | Bill & June Johnson |
Also included is a picture of our thermometer to show you the official amount of the campaign. We are excited to announce that United Way has achieved 88.4% of our goal!
We appreciate all the support everyone in the community has given to us during this campaign. United Way has existed in this community since 1923, through good times and bad. United Way has supported numerous agencies and programs in the community. It is because the stars of our community, that United Way has been able to reach this point, and we deeply thank each and every one of our donors and supporters for making all of this possible.