“Poverty is the reason for the crime and the instability in our urban areas. Poverty in and of itself is never the ideal, the hope or the dream of our citizens here in the Mid-South. The dream is to move from where they are to the next step. If you think people dream of living in generational poverty, then you do not know the ones who have come out of poverty,” – Dr. Kenneth Robinson, President and CEO, United Way of the Mid-South
Dr. Kenneth Robinson, standing at center, talks to Comcast Leadership Givers at a recent “thank you” luncheon.
“We’ve got a great Leadership team here today – we might have to pass the plate!”
That last quote was from Evangeline Parker-Guest, Manager Government & Community Affairs for Comcast (Big South Region –Memphis), who gathered Leadership Giving Comcast employees who gave $500 or more to United Way last year together at the Capital Grille for a thank you luncheon.
Dr. Kenneth Robinson, President and CEO of United Way, talked to the Comcast crew about how much their donations and volunteering meant to improving lives impacted by poverty across the Mid-South.
Dr. Robinson noted that Comcast prides itself on being about customer service.
“I want to reiterate the concept that United Way is also all about customer service,” he said. “I’ve been around this community a quarter of a century. I understand the Mid-South area well. United Way cannot be United Way without the help of organizations like Comcast.”
“United Way has been able to do something no other entity has,” he said. “We are at the cross section of government, the corporate sector, private sector, faith-based sector, nonprofit agencies and the general community. We link together our agencies so they can work more effectively and efficiently as a network and a system of services.”
Dr. Robinson concluded by thanking Comcast contributors and donors for being “investors at the Leadership level.”
“You have allowed us to take our services to another level that touch 600,000 individuals annually,” he said. “When we live United, we can solve the problem of poverty together.”
Other guests at the luncheon included Jessica Gunter, External Affairs Specialist Comcast – Big South Region, West Area; Ronnie Colvin, Sr. Director Government & Regulatory Affairs West Area-Big South Region; Pastor Lee Lauderdale, Executive Pastor New Hope Baptist of Memphis and Manager, Customer Care Comcast Communications-Memphis.