Q&A with United Way of Cullman County
1. What are your titles and responsibilities?
Our staff at UWCC is phenomenal. Our executive director is Stephanie Childers; she leads the charge on all activities, from campaigning, events, helping partner agencies, you name it. Resource development and outreach is led by Taylor Johnson; she is our media, outreach and fundraising extraordinaire. Trudy Weaver is new to the team! She is our office assistant and handles campaign management and financials. We are definitely a team. We are all hands on deck, helping each other in any way we can.
2. Can you explain what UWCC does?
United Way brings people together to build strong communities where everyone thrives. We are unique in that we have a process of accepting nonprofits to support. To be the best stewards of our donors’ monies, we have a community lead and allocations process that includes a thorough report from applying agencies and tours to help our volunteers decide where the funds are best suited to support Cullman County. We currently support 19 partner agencies.
3. What impact will the recent Crawfish Boil have on partner agencies?
“Our Crawfish Boil, the money raised goes straight into our nonprofits,” said Childers. “We have 19 in Cullman that are under our umbrella that we support, and all the money raised goes back into them to grow them, nourish them and help them be the best they can be. We do this as an outreach as well; this is our Young Professionals Board, and it is growing.”
4. What makes events successful?
Teamwork and community support! Our whole staff is incredible. We have the amazing opportunity to partner with and have sponsorship from the wonderful team at Goat Island Brewing and Hank’s Sports Bar & Rumors Deli. Everyone loves the Creole spin on the Boil, and watching them pull things together is like watching a well-oiled machine. We had a company help sponsor veggie costs, Vest Plumbing, and we had the amazing opportunity to work alongside Visual Anthony while they captured content. Our YP Board is a huge player in the success. They show out at this event. Johnson worked incredibly hard behind the scenes with marketing and coordination.
Several upcoming events have sponsorship and volunteer opportunities:
- Annual Meeting, May 30
- Book Drive, May 11-18
- Stuff The Bus
- Community Health Fair, Sept. 7
- Day of Caring, September
- Designer Bag Bingo, Nov. 7
www.uwaycc.org