Here are some of the people you meet on your way, every day: Such as the gent in the other lane who absently glanced over a second or two before the light changed.
And that smiling grandmother you handed your shopping cart off to, just now.
Don’t forget the mom and dad of the kid who likes to hang with your kid after school and on weekends.
There’s a likely chance, Brandi Helms told a roomful of people in the WestRidge business complex Wednesday morning, that they may all have something in common.
That is, they may need the services of the United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties at some point in their lives and times.
Perhaps they got behind on a utility bill because of a sudden illness or a downturn at work.
“It’s the little things, guys,” she said in the conference room of the Steptoe and Johnson law firm in the complex.
Helms is CEO of the organization that administers to 27 human services agencies and 19 outreach programs across its two-county region.
And all those little things, she said, need big dollar amounts — so the work can continue.
Big dollars are what the morning was all about.
Big dollars, as in $1,148,706, to be exact.
That’s how much people across Mon and Preston contributed to the 2024 campaign, which just completed its run.
Monica Haddad, a longtime United Way volunteer who chaired that campaign, said she appreciates such homegrown altruism.
Emphasis on “home,” the local attorney and mediator said.
“All those dollars stay right here in our home counties,” she said.
“And that’s so very important.”
And so very constant, said Helms. While this campaign is done, it’s now time to get going on the 2025 edition.
Meanwhile, the incoming campaign chair for that effort will be announced in the near future, she said, while the United Way readies for its slate of signature events, which are staples of its programming, campaign or no.
There’s the Blue and Gold Mine Sale, which commences May 11 in conjunction with WVU and the City of Morgantown.
And the Power of the Purse happening on June 27, which is a literacy awareness campaign for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the effort that provides free books to toddlers and children.
Wednesday was also about recognition among those volunteers and organizations working for the cause.
The Preston County Workshop was named Best Community Impact Partner for United Way.
Pam Bolyard, who oversees United Way fundraising for Clear Mountain Bank was recognized as Employee Coordinator of the Year.
WVU Medicine and Bowles Rice received the Growth & Innovation and Spirit of Giving awards, respectively.
United Bank was recognized with the Corporate Volunteerism Award and the Community Advocate Award went to Huntington Bank.
New businesses signing on with United Way were recognized with the Great Beginnings Award.
They include Antero Resources Corp., Comcast, Cranberry Real Estate LLC, Gabriele Foundation, JPMorgan Chase and Mountaineer Duplicate Bridge Club.
Haddad herself was bestowed with the Timothy B. Saab Community Leader Award, named in the honor of the late banker and community advocate who spent his professional life investing in his neighbors.
The people who donate and volunteer whose names aren’t always mentioned publicly are the pulse of the United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties, the outgoing chair said.
She loved United Way anyway, she said — then she started volunteering.
“And I really fell in love.”
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