UWCF Recognizes Outstanding Employee Coordinators
Wednesday April 28, 2010
Employee coordinators (EC) from GEICO, ACT, Inc., QMI, and Pepperidge Farm were recognized on April 22 at an annual breakfast hosted by United Way.
The breakfast event featured a welcome by United Way President Terry Worthington and an invocation by Chuck Gerhart, City of Lakeland.
“Without dedicated employee coordinators at participating workplaces, the United Way campaign would be impossible,” Worthington said. “These individuals are the heart and soul of annual giving.”
Dale Stills, resource development director, shared highlights from the 2009 campaign. Ashley Metts Miller, volunteer coordinator for VISTE, addressed the group and thanked them for the impact their time and effort made on the agencies and programs that benefit from United Way.
Jennifer Jonsson of American Compliance Technologies, Inc. was named outstanding employee coordinator for a small organization (10 – 49 employees). ACT, Inc. increased their employee giving by 752%, going from $962 to $8,204. Jennifer spent hours of her time encouraging employees to participate in the campaign. She arranged a model presentation event with multiple speakers and door prizes that generated interest and increased participation. CEO support was also very visible during the entire campaign.
The outstanding coordinator for a medium organization (50 - 199 employees) was Owen Heatwole of QMI. With Owen at the helm, QMI employees participated in Cajun shrimp boils, wii bowling tournaments, pie in the face, cook book sales and many more special events. Owen was so determined to make money every morning during QMI’s campaign he charged employees to park. After each day was over he would send out a report by email on how the campaign was going. By keeping all staff in the loop, QMI increased participation by 23% for an overall 78% participation.
Pepperidge Farm’s employee coordinator, Steve Kostadinovich, was named outstanding coordinator for a large organization (200 or more employees). Steve has been with Pepperidge Farm for 38 years. Under his management, the campaign increased by $8,488 over 2008 and the organization saw 75% participation. Steve attended every United Way presentation for the 2009 campaign and spoke to his employees about responsibility to the people in our community who need help.
Finally, Chuck Gerhart, City of Lakeland and 2008 employee coordinator of the year, presented the 2009 award to Heather Tchipanov from GEICO. Despite the tough economic times GEICO not only remained the third largest United Way contributor in the community, but also increased their gift by $55,000. GEICO had the largest dollar increase this year for UWCF.
Under Heather’s leadership GEICO added many new events this year to help with their increase in participation and money raised. A sky-typing event was held for all Leadership and Young Leadership contributors. Planes came to Lakeland Airport for this event to type out “GEICO LIVES UNITED” in the sky. Nearly 200 people attended this event. Two other successful events included a Buccaneers Cheerleader Tailgate and a fleet care giveaway. These events not only generated money for the campaign, they also helped to educate employees about United Way’s work.
Each coordinator was given a small gift of thanks and several drawings were held for gift bags supplied by Mosaic.
