Blytheville School District employees presented a contribution of $3,334.03 to the United Way of Greater Blytheville for the United Way’s goal of $200,000 which will be distributed to 12 local agencies. The chairpersons for the district’s program, with UW executive director Mary Helen Moody, include (from left) Nicole Turney, Lisa Holifield, Tiffany Snyder, Johnetta Orr, Michelle Walling, Moody, Carolyn Barnes, David Cooke, (not pictured) Diane Jenkins, Shondra Wright and Danna Mattingly.
By DAVID COOKE
Blytheville Schools PR Dir.
Employees of the Blytheville School District have continued to pool their resources to benefit the local United Way, and their individual small contributions have turned into one gift that is pretty substantial.
The Blytheville Schools’ report to the United Way of Greater Blytheville’s 2020 campaign shows a total contribution of $3,334.03. Of that amount, $931.53 (30 percent) was given to the local United Way in cash and checks, as well as $80.50 in pledges. The remainder of the contribution, $2,322 (70 percent), will be paid on a monthly basis through payroll deductions. The schools’ campaign was completed in early January.
The district employees’ gift represents 1.7 percent of the local United Way’s goal of $200,000 to be raised. In terms of what was given last year by the employees, the contribution is a seven-percent decrease.
Mary Helen Moody, executive director of the local United Way, stated that the Blytheville School District employees for the last several years have been No. 2 annually in terms of overall contributions to the local United Way.
“I can’t say enough about what the school district’s employees mean to the United Way,” Moody stressed. “The United Way of Greater Blytheville and the Blytheville School District have a long record of working together to help our community. David Cooke leads a campaign every year through the school district, and the district is the largest employee giver in North Mississippi County. Any time we need volunteers we can always count on the school district to help.
“The employees are also directly involved with agencies that benefit from the United Way, such as the Girl Scouts, The Haven and the Food Pantry. These individuals are a joy to work with and our community is better because of them. I thank every one of them for what they do, not just for the United Way but for what they do for our community.”
The individual employees were responsible for the Blytheville Schools’ total contribution to the United Way. No “corporate” gifts were involved. Participation by each employee is completely voluntary and anonymous.
Cooke, the district’s public relations director, organized the schools’ United Way efforts and was the chairperson of the drive for the administration building. Nine other chairpersons were responsible for the four schools, the Maintenance/Custodial and Food Services departments. Those chairpersons were Lisa Holifield and Shondra Wright of Blytheville High School, Michelle Walling of Blytheville High School ALE, Danna Mattingly of Blytheville Middle School, Nicole Turney of Blytheville Elementary, Diane Jenkins of Blytheville Primary and Johnetta Orr of BPS’ kindergarten center, Carolyn Barnes of the Maintenance and Custodial staff and Tiffany Snyder of Food Services.
A total of 192 of 359 employees (53 percent) participated in the local United Way campaign. The average gift per individual contributor is $17.36.
BHS ALE was the only school to achieve 100-percent participation among its employees, with all 22 employees contributing.
United Way of Greater Blytheville funds will be allocated to 12 local agencies for 2020, and every penny of the local money remains in Mississippi County. Those agencies are the NEA Chapter of the American Red Cross, Area XIII Special Olympics, Blytheville Community Samaritans, Blytheville/Gosnell Area Food Pantry, Court-Appointed Special Advocates, Charles Strong Recreation Center, FOCUS, Girl Scouts of Greater Blytheville, Great River Charitable Clinic, The Haven of Northeast Arkansas, Legal Aid of Arkansas and the Mississippi County Union Mission.