Annual Report

United Way of Putnam County

2015-2016 Annual Report

We Are Our Brother’s Keeper!

Board of Directors

OFFICERS

Tim Smith, President

Malcolm Fabre, Vice President and Campaign Chairman

Don Jacobovitz, Vice President and Allocations Chairman

Kathy Jorgensen, Treasurer

BOARD MEMBERS

Anne Allen Janet Martin

Meghan Deputy Lisa Gordon

Roxane Kennedy Sandy Rowell

John Schneider Charlotte Santa

Vernon Myers Bud Surratt

Vision

“United Way of Putnam County envisions a community where all individuals and families achieve their human potential through education, income stability and healthy lives.”

Mission statement

“The United Way of Putnam County works to improve people’s lives by mobilizing the caring power of our community through volunteerism, fundraising, community education, and collaborative efforts as well as by supporting community initiatives and local agencies that specialize in helping individuals and families in the community to meet their needs in the arenas of education, financial stability and healthy living.”

Partnerships

American Red Cross

Boy Scouts, North Florida Council

Catholic Charities Bureau

Episcopal Children Services

Girl Scouts of Gateway Council

Heart of Putnam Food Pantry

Learn to Read

Lee Conlee House

Palatka Christian Service Center

Putnam Family Fitness Center

Putnam First Cancer Fund

Putnam Habitat for Humanity

St. Vincent de Paul Society

South Putnam Christian Service Center
the President’s Message

Tim Smith

It has been my honor to serve you and our community as President of The United Way of Putnam County during its 24^th year of service in Putnam County. I have been very fortunate to work with some of the most inspirational and supportive group of dedicated individuals seeking a common goal of a better Putnam County, including the Executive Board consisting of Malcolm Fabre, Campaign Chair, Don Jacobovitz, Allocation Chair, Kathy Jorgensen, Treasurer, Blythe Byrd, Executive Director and the United Board of Directors. During the past year our Executive Board faced many health challenges but never did one of those challenges deter the focus of those individuals away from serving United Way and for that I have the utmost respect and love for their service to our community and without them the campaign year would not have been as successful. I am VERY proud to say we have accomplished what we set out to do.

In discussing some of our successes throughout this year; this was our 3rd year of operating independently, and we have continued to grow our main office and its’ administrative support that is located in East Palatka at the Florida Highway Patrol Station. We enhanced our presence in the community and our capabilities by having Blythe Byrd, Executive Director, participating in many community events and sharing the message of United Way and being a resource too many. We continue to make improvements to our website http://uwpcfl.org and we have added more transparency by posting our by-laws, board meeting minutes, updates, initiatives, etc. all on the site to be viewed by the public at any time. We forged new affiliations with more businesses, partnering agencies, and support networks. This has all helped to increase our visibility to you, our community, and most of all to those who truly look to us for support when needed. By meeting our all-time high goal of $210,000, we cannot say enough about Seminole Electric Cooperative, Publix Supermarkets, Georgia Pacific, FP&L, and Putnam Medical Center for their continuing high level of support along with all the other businesses and residents that contributed to this year’s success.

Once again this was a challenging year as Putnam County continues to rebound from the great recession but I am most amazed by the people that call this home and the magnitude of the generosity of the people that choose to live here and over the past five years have contributed almost one million dollars to United Way. I congratulate the new Officers and Board of Directors and will continue to support the United Way effort in every way possible.

CAMPAIGN REPORT



Malcolm Fabre, Vice President and Campaign Chairman

Hard to believe another year has already come and gone, but it has, and we continue to find new and innovative ways to raise funds in support of our mission. As with many of the past several years, this one turned out to be another challenging year, but one that still resulted in meeting the needs of Putnam County. When you go into a year knowing your county continues at the bottom of 67 counties on the poverty rate and number 66 of 67 on the unemployment rate, there is no doubt you will meet many challenges along the way when trying to ask for monies from those who in a large part are needing it.

We started this campaign out with a goal of $210,000 and the first big success was the grant achieved by Blythe’s efforts. Then the successful campaigns ran at Publix Supermarkets, Georgia Pacific, Florida Power & Light, Putnam Medical Center, Seminole Electric, the School Board, and the various County Department drives. We cannot say enough for their continuing high level of support, along with all the other businesses and residents that contributed to this year’s success.

This was a very rewarding year for the Campaign Team and because of their hard work and dedication, including those of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors; the Putnam County residents will benefit from the increased funding that will be available to assist the many agencies that are supported by United Way of Putnam County.

My most sincere thanks go out to each and every team member along with all the businesses, residents, and individuals that supported the campaign with their gift or pledge to “Our” United Way of Putnam County. An extra special thanks to Kerry and Sandy Rowell for jumping in and helping out on my behalf.

CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEERS

Roxane Kennedy John Schneider Kerry & Sandy Rowell

Kathy Jorgensen Nicole Livingston Anne Allen

Leanne Davis Barbara Wells Shaquita Curry

ALLOCATIONS REPORT



Don Jacobovitz, Vice President and Allocations Chairman

This year's bountiful campaign has led to more work for our Allocations Committee.  But, it's work we love to do.  The Committee had to decide how to allocate funds to our member agencies and new agencies hoping to get a regular spot on our rolls.  After some serious discussions the Committee was pleased to present its recommendations to our local United Way Board.

Each year the Allocations Committee receives requests from our Putnam County member agencies detailing their needs and how much they would like to receive from us.  To assist the Allocations Committee in their deliberations, the agencies also provide additional information about their agency such as how it operates, how many paid and volunteer employees it has, what other funding they receive, and how they will utilize our community's funds.  We'd love to give each agency as much as they need to provide the excellent services they accomplish in our community but it requires a lot of thought and discussions as to how to allocate our limited funds.  Because this year's campaign was so successful, it made our task a little bit easier.

The allocations process also includes a site visit to each of the member agencies.  This part of the process is very rewarding for the Committee members.  Sub-committees within the Allocations Committee get first hand tours of each of the agencies and their facilities.  It gives our Allocations Committee an inside look at the agencies and a much better understanding of their needs and how we can help each of them.  The Committee members always walk away from these tours with a much better understanding of how each of these member agencies fill many of the social needs of Putnam County.  Prepared with this knowledge they meet to discuss the needs and merits of each member agency and make judicious recommendations on the distribution of funds.

I could not have completed my responsibilities as the Chair of the allocations Committee without the many hours of work that each of our volunteers on the Allocations Committee performed in getting us to our recommended list of funds to be allocated.  With many thanks, I'd like to thank this year's Committee members:

ALLOCATIONS VOLUNTEERS

Janette Wagner	Vernon Myers	Sandy Rowell/Kerry Rowell
Janet Martin	Linda Myers	Nicole Livingston
Charlotte Santa	Anne Allen	Jeanette Perry
Blythe Byrd	Tina Gilyard	Malcolm Fabre

Treasurer’s Report

Kathy Jorgensen, Treasurer

I am honored to once again have served as the Treasure for the United Way of Putnam County. I continue to be amazed at how generous this community is; in good times or in lean times, the people and businesses of Putnam astonish me with their continued support. It’s been a privilege to be responsible for helping to keep tabs on the hundreds of thousands of dollars United Way collects to distribute here in Putnam County for those less fortunate than we are.

Having finished up the year hitting our $210,000 goal and all agency allocations for the 2014-2015 year paid out, along with a another Christmas payout this past year, I am happy to report that our organization is in good financial standing. We were able to allocate $156,962.50 during the 2014-2015 year to the wonderful agencies that help those most in need in our community. We are so very grateful to all our agencies for accomplishing all the wonderful things you do for the less fortunate in our communities. We now look expectantly to the future.

I continue to enjoy working with our always cheerful, multi-talented, hard-working and dedicated Executive Director, Blythe Byrd. She and I continue to work together closely to keep United Way of Putnam County running transparently and efficiently. This year we’ve brought Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC on board to keep our financial records.

I extend a huge “thank you” to our local businesses, employees and residents who give generously from their hearts so we can help better serve those in our community who are less fortunate than we.



Pillars Club Members

The Pillars Club is United Way’s symbol of leadership.

Thank you for your generous gifts of charity.

Alexis De Tocqueville Society………………………………...…………$10,000+

Georgia Pacific Corporate

Publix Corporate

We thank the employees of Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc., Publix Charities, Florida Power & Light Company, and Georgia Pacific for coming together to exceed $10,000 in contributions to United Way through payroll deductions independently. These organization’s employees have shown consistent excellence in the United Way fundraising and a marked commitment to community charity year after year.

Corinthian Pillars………………………………………………………….$2,500 - $9,999

Employees of the School District of Putnam County

AT&T

We also want to thank the following individuals for their generous donation:

Col. Charles Myers, III & Helen F. Meyers

Roxane Kennedy

Ionic Pillars………………………………………………………..………..$1,000 - $2,499

Joseph & Rhonda Miller Foundation	Stephen Erikson	Christopher C. Brew
TD Bank	Malcolm & Riley Fabre	Vicki Mayer
PPM	Rick & Cynthia Leary	Cynthia Barlow
IBM	Kerry & Sandy Rowell	Leigh Ann Jackson
W.W. Gay Mechanical	Benita Lookadoo

Doric Pillars……………………………………………………………..………$500 – $999

Capital City Bank	Anne Allen
Deep South Industrial	Venice J. Aubrey
Beard Equipment	Mark K. Houchins
Center State Bank	Charles Carmichael
Zachry Employees	Omega Milton
	Thomas Mayton Jr.
	Duane Thompson

President’s Club……………………………………………..………………… $300 - $499

Miller Electric	Dr. and Mrs. L.W. Garrett, MD	Tim & Donna Rogers
Palatka Daily News	Wendy Glover	Aimee Parales
Boy Scouts	Robert Hatton	Michael L. Patterson
	Ann Hiemenz	Don Jacobovitz
	Ashely Cumbo	Col. O. & Judith A. Surratt
	Linda Baggs	Arrenzo Corbett
	Vicki Mayer	Bryan G. Eubanks
	Leo Portz	Robyn Williams
	Jared Dollar	Judy Wimberley
	Robert Halton	Linda Myers

Special Thanks To:

Palatka Daily News, Tax Deed Office Building F, Graphics II, Klassy Koncessions, Best Western of East Palatka, United Way Volunteers, Public Officials, Palatka Police Dept, Florida Highway Patrol, All Houses of Worship, our families, friends, neighbors, and loved ones that make Putnam County a great place to live and enable us to pursue our mission of charity.

Sponsored by Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Hosted by Best Western Inn of East Palatka

Catering by: