{"id":129447,"date":"2024-04-14T08:09:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T12:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=129447"},"modified":"2024-04-14T08:13:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T12:13:05","slug":"united-way-of-the-greater-lehigh-valley-raises-25002145-to-meet-critical-community-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=129447","title":{"rendered":"United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley Raises $25,002,145 to Meet Critical Community Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Funds will impact 175,000 people in the region through Education, Healthy Aging and Community Stability following campaign chaired by Tony and Adrienne DaRe of BSI Corporate Benefits.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Allentown, PA, April 11, 2024 \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley\u2019s supporters raised a record-breaking $25,002,145 during the organization\u2019s annual fundraising campaign, marking 14 consecutive years of growth for the nonprofit. The campaign was chaired by Tony and Adrienne DaRe of BSI Corporate Benefits with a specific emphasis on the region\u2019s rising mental health needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt BSI, we saw this need and heard it personally as we visited\u00a0United Way Community Schools<\/a>\u00a0and Healthy Aging\u00a0Community Hubs<\/a>,\u201d said BSI Corporate Benefits Chief Executive Officer Tony DaRe. \u201cWe knew it was imperative that we act now. That\u2019s the inspiration behind\u00a0UNITED for Mental Health<\/em>. By integrating new solutions into our existing networks, United Way can take swift, effective and meaningful action to tackle the mental health crisis in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

United Way announced the results today during Celebration of Caring, presented by Crayola. The event celebrates and honors the collaborative spirit and profound impact achieved through the dedication of organizations, United Way donors, volunteers and partners positively impacting the lives of over 175,000 people this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to our dedicated supporters, over 120,000 people were connected to food,<\/p>\n

housing and mental health services, quality of life was improved for nearly 10,000 older adults and caregivers and over 40,000 students were supported so they can thrive in school,\u201d said United Way President David Lewis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful for each and every person who stepped up to create real and lasting change in the Greater Lehigh Valley, and we\u2019d especially like to thank Tony and Adrienne DaRe for rallying incredible support,\u201d said Lewis.<\/p>\n

Throughout the annual campaign, which ended on March 31, 2024, BSI Corporate Benefits pledged to make an additional gift in honor of every new or increased donation to support our neighbors\u2019 mental health needs. Across the nation, mental health needs are rising rapidly, creating substantial impacts on all parts of life including physical health, quality of life and even a student\u2019s ability to learn in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people in our community are struggling, and we believe we can make a real difference by working together to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and to raise funding for numerous United Way-supported programs and efforts to connect children, parents, employees and their families with the services they need,\u201d said Adrienne DaRe.<\/p>\n

Altogether, a strong network of partners and donors increased their contributions to the annual campaign, which ran from April 2023 to March 2024. PPL Corp.\u2019s employees, retirees and corporate foundation have contributed more than $6,000,000 for the second year in a row\u2014a first for our United Way; Air Products raised more than $5,000,000 for the third consecutive year; City Center Group and Crayola each raised more than $1,000,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the support over the past year, your United Way invested record-breaking funding into the community at a time our neighbors need it most. With carefully vetted and evaluated programs, our solutions in Education, Healthy Aging and Community Stability are driving positive outcomes across the board,\u201d said United Way Board Chair Dorota Gasienica-Kozak, Partner, King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, LLC Law Firm.<\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s event, the organization recognized David Lewis\u2019 36-year career with United Way and celebrated the new dynamic, incoming CEO, Marci Lesko. This transition marks a pivotal moment for the organization, signifying continuity growth, and a renewed vision for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost impossible to think about David without thinking of Marci Lesko. They have been the dream team for the past decade. As a Board, we have full confidence in Marci’s ability to lead us into this next chapter. Her dedication, vision and strategic prowess have already proven to be invaluable assets to our organization, and we stand firmly behind her as she takes the helm,\u201d said Gasienica-Kozak.<\/p>\n

Also during the ceremony, four organizations were honored and presented awards. Award recipients included:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PPL LIVE UNITED Award<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 HNL Lab Medicine<\/p>\n

Community Builder Award<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Veronica Gonzalez and Valley Health Partners<\/strong><\/p>\n

Campaign Chairs\u2019 Award\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u2013<\/em>\u00a0Quadrant Capital<\/strong><\/p>\n

Air Products Leonard Pool\u00a0Impact Award<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013<\/em>\u00a0Valley Youth House<\/strong><\/p>\n

Valued community partners in sponsorship for this year\u2019s Celebration of Caring include:
\nPresenting sponsor<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Crayola
\nPlatinum sponsor<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Dual Temp Company Inc.
\nSilver sponsor<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Air Products
\nBronze sponsors<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Capital Blue Cross; Fulton Bank; Highmark Blue Shield; Just Born Quality Confections, LLC; Olympus<\/p>\n

Pearl sponsor<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Equinox Benefits Consulting; King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, Lehigh Valley Health Network
\nIn-kind sponsors<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 ASR Media; City Center Group; RichMar Florist; Social T Marketing; Working Dog Press<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nLaura McHugh
\nVice President, Marketing and Communications
\nUnited Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Funds will impact 175,000 people in the region through Education, Healthy Aging and Community Stability following campaign chaired by Tony and Adrienne DaRe of BSI Corporate Benefits.\u00a0 Allentown, PA, April … Continue reading United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley Raises $25,002,145 to Meet Critical Community Needs<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/united-way-25-k.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}