Day of Caring 2007

Day of Caring 2007 kicked off the latest fundraising drive for United Way of the Mid-South and brought staff, volunteers and local leaders together for a concentrated effort that improves our community.

The kickoff rally was held at Christ The Rock Metro Church, 8800 Winchester Rd. in southeast Memphis. Opening speeches from City of Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton and Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton were introduced by United Way of the Mid-South's Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ron Belz, President and C.O.O. of Belz Enterprises.

After the Mayors addressed the crowd of over 1,000 volunteers, the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Lee Morris-Mueller, Executive Director of the Girl Scout Council of the Mid-South and Woody Woodward, Executive Director of the Boy Scouts of America, Chicasaw Council. After the pledge, the crowd joined Rev. Chris Bennett, Pastor of Christ The Rock Metro Church in the invocation prayer.

Ron Belz then introduced the Master of Ceremonies for the event, Herman Morris, attorney at law, and long-time member of the United Way Board of Directors, who presented Spirit of Tennessee Awards. Spirit of Tennessee Awards are judged by an independent third-party panel who review United Way campaigns run at organizations across the state of Tennessee, looking for ways employees and corporations have used creativity and strategic analysis to improve fundraising efforts and encourage community building in their organizations. Awards were presented to the following organizations:

Spirit of Tennessee Award Winners - Employees

Deloitte (101-500 employees)
Morgan Keegan (501-1000 employees)
Medtronic (1001-2500 employees)
International Paper (2501-5000 employees)
FedEx (5001+ employees)

Spirit of Tennessee Award Winners - Corporations

International Paper (2501-5000 employees)
FedEx (5001+ employees)

Representatives from awarded organizations received trophies recognizing the accomplishments.

Calvin Anderson, General Campaign Chairman for United Way of the Mid-South this year, and Harry Shaw, President of United Way of the Mid-South, announced that the 50 members of the local staff for United Way had raised $182,165 for this year's campaign effort, a new record for the staff campaign.

Glenn Sessoms, a Vice President at the Memphis hub from FedEx presented a $1 million corporate check to United Way. Sessoms is also a campaign advisor for the FedEx United Way campaign this year.

John Balboni, SVP and Chief Information Officer at International Paper Company announced that International Paper had completed this year's campaign earlier in the week, bringing in a record setting $1,250,206 for 2007. The total represents $140,254 more than their impressive 2006 total, for an increase of 12.6%.

Calvin Anderson thanked the Loaned Executives and Sponsored Representatives working on this year's United Way campaign, and announced that the region-wide goal for this year's effort is $26.5 million, $500,000 more than last year's goal and the highest goal in the 84-year history of United Way of the Mid-South.

Herman Morris dismissed the crowd, reminding them to mark their calendars for the February 28th finale Campaign Celebration and Annual Meeting in 2008.

After the kickoff rally, volunteers left for their nonprofit worksites to engage in a day of activity to improve people's lives and impact our community.

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