United Way of the Greater Clarksville Region Welcomes New Programs

The United Way of the Greater Clarksville Region is pleased to welcome five new programs to its family: Child Advocacy Center for the 23rd District’s “Reclaiming Me” program, Mid-Cumberland Developmental Services of Dickson County’s Montgomery County Imagination Library program, Manna Café’s Mobile Café program, L.E.A.P. Organization’s Supportive Emergency Housing, Child Care Assistance and LEAP Intern programs, and Students Taking a Right Stand’s (STARS) Student Assistance and Kids on the Block program. They join the 33 current programs dedicated to assisting community members throughout Montgomery, Houston and Stewart Counties and the Fort Campbell Area.

· The Child Advocacy Center is a place for children who are victims/alleged victims of child abuse. They receive support after a report of child abuse has been made. Located in Charlotte, Tennessee, (Dickson County) they work with police and child protection workers to speak with children in a safe and child-friendly location. The goals of the center are to increase children's safety to help children and their families heal from the trauma and victimization of child abuse, prosecute child abuse perpetrators, educate the community on ways to decrease the occurrences of child abuse and to assist families in reclaiming a healthy safe home environment.

· Any child from birth to 5 years of age in Montgomery County can receive a free book every month through the Montgomery County Imagination Library. There is a national committee of individuals who meet each year to review the Library. The committee is composed of representatives from Parents as Teachers National Center, the International Reading Association, the University of Tennessee, Rutgers University, and the teaching profession. New titles are introduced each year so younger siblings will not receive the exact same books as their older siblings. Bilingual titles are available.

In 1996, Dolly Parton launched the Imagination Library Program to benefit the children in her home county in East Tennessee. Her goal was to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families and wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.

· Founders and pastors of Manna Cafe’ Ministries, Kenny and Vicki York have a combined 16 years experience serving the poor. The Mobile Café program began in April of 2010. Mobile Cafe consists of taking hot, appetizing meals to homeless camps, parking lots, and /or other gathering places, both indoor and out. Sometimes they include worship and a brief church service; other times, they simply offer hot food and a smile. Presently, Mobile Café consists of Tuesday Night Café, Thursday Night Café, and Saturday Morning Community Breakfast (in cooperation with Grace Community Church). Since the program began, they have served over 1500 individuals.

· The mission of LEAP is to develop and strengthen communities of productive citizenship with values of Leadership, Enlightenment, Academic Achievement, and Perseverance through faith, hope and love by providing mentoring, tutoring, affordable housing, and various assistance programs. L.E.A.P. provides adequate housing to low income single parents, quality and professional child and family development services for low income families in our community, establishes a development program for youth for primary education, community involvement, higher education and career development, and establishes strategies and implement workforce development initiatives that addresses the problem of long-term, disproportionately high unemployment within community.

· Students Taking A Right Stand (STARS) is the leader in school-based student assistance program services in middle Tennessee. STARS helps schools tackle tough issues that threaten the emotional, psychological and academic well-being of students - issues such as substance abuse, violence, bullying, harassment, family conflicts and divorce, loss, grief, and other concerns. Through assemblies, classroom presentations, and group or individual counseling sessions, STARS Nashville assists schools in preventing and confronting these difficult challenges.

Kids on the Block educates children - as well as the broader community - about health and social concerns that affect their lives. Using puppets and other teaching tools, Kids on the Block promotes understanding and acceptance of all children and adults, regardless of their differences. Their KIDS ON THE BLOCK program reached over 40,000 young children in 2008-2009 by making over 500 puppet performances in Middle Tennessee.

Other partners of United Way include: Adult Literacy Council; AJAX Turner Senior Citizens Center; Bethesda Community Mission; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Clarksville; Boys Scouts of America – Cogioba District; Catholic Charities- Creating Hope by Assisting Parents Program; Centerstone- Regional Intervention Program; Clarksville Area YMCA Youth Programs; Clarkville-Montgomery Couty Community Action Agency- Foster Grandparents, Head Start, Old Firehouse Day Shelter and RSVP programs; Crisis 2-1-1; Fort Campbell Armed Services YMCA; Fort Campbell Army Community Services; Girl Scout Council of the Cumberland Valley; Highland Rim Economic Corporation- HeadStart program; Hearing Bridges; J.D. Lewis Senior Citizens’ Center of Houston County; Legal Aid Society; Mid-Cumberland Human Resource Agency- Homemaker Program and Meals on Wheels; Nurses for Newborns of Tennessee; Parents Reaching Out; Progressive Directions Inc. – Early Intervention, Adult Services and Buddy Ball programs; Stewart County Imagination Library; United Methodist Urban Ministries – Grace Assistance, SafeHouse and Turning Point Transitional Housing programs; Youth Center Cooperative of Houston County and Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center.

United Way and its Partner Agencies are working to advance the common good by focusing on education, income and health. These are the building blocks for a good life – a quality education that leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, and good health. Their goal is to create long-lasting changes that prevent problems from happening in the first place.

The United Way of the Greater Clarksville Region is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and survives solely upon donations from the community and through grants. Last year, over 96,000 people throughout Houston, Montgomery, and Stewart Counties in Tennessee and the Fort Campbell area benefitted from the programs supported and monitored by the United Way of the Greater Clarksville Region. The regional community they serve is growing, and the needs they work to address each day are growing proportionately.

United Way is committed to making measurable improvements throughout the community. Annually, each partner agency and its program(s) must undergo a review to ensure they are meeting the requirements put into place to guarantee that effective change is taking place throughout Montgomery, Houston and Stewart Counties and the Fort Campbell area. This is just one way the United Way of the Greater Clarksville Region holds itself accountable in action and results. For more information, please visit liveunitedclarksville.org or call 931-647-4291.

Clarksville Now - Belk Makes Donation To Military Victims Of Apartment Fire

Clarksville Now - Belk Makes Donation To Military Victims Of Apartment Fire

LOCAL BUSINESSES AND VOLUNTEERS ROOTED IN COMMUNITY COMMITMENT

The United Way of the Greater Clarksville Region held its 2011 Annual Membership Meeting and Awards Ceremony at Gateway Medical Center’s Liberty Room on March 2nd, 2011.

The evening’s festivities included dinner and elections for new board members and officers. Newly elected members of the board include Mr. Norm Brumblay, Facilities Manager with Clarksville-Montgomery County School System; Ms. Melinda Earl-Conwell, President of Houston County Chamber of Commerce; Mr. Phil Harpel, Chief of Staff for Montgomery County Government; Mr. Richard Jackson, V.P. of Financial Affairs and Strategic Planning at Austin Peay State University; Mr. Kevin Rau, Director of Materials Management at Gateway Medical Center; Dr. Gregory Stallworth, Fort Campbell Economic Development Director; Mr. Terry Strange, Site Manager and Director for Hemlock Semiconductor, L.L.C. and Mr. Brad Taylor, Financial Compliance and Information Systems Specialist for Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation.

The event is held each year to recognize and honor businesses and individuals in the community for their involvement and support of the organization’s work in Montgomery, Houston, and Stewart Counties and the Fort Campbell Area.

The highlight of the evening, as always, was the presentation of campaign awards, including the prestigious Ben C. Parks Award.

Established in 1990, the Ben C. Parks Award recognizes the company or business that has conducted the top overall in-house campaign. The winner is selected by the volunteers serving on the campaign cabinet based on several criteria, including the percentage of employee giving potential achieved, increase in giving over the last year, number of leadership donors, as well as other factors. The award was named in honor of Mr. Ben C. Parks, who faithfully demonstrated his full support of the mission of our United Way and its member agencies.

This year, five companies were nominated for the prestigious Award: Cumberland Bank & Trust, Green Bank, Heritage Bank, Legends Bank and Planters Bank. After careful deliberation, Legends Bank was named the Ben C. Parks Award winner for 2010.

A number of other awards to honor outstanding achievements of businesses, agencies, and volunteers were also presented during the event.

The Ambassador’s Award recognizes the CEO or company president or manager who has demonstrated an individual commitment to the local United Way and set an example of leadership for his or her employees by promoting support and involvement with their United Way, both in the workplace and in the community. Mr. Masami (Matt) Kikuchi, President and CEO of Bridgestone Metalpha, USA was honored with the presentation of this year’s Ambassador’s Award.

The Directors’ Award honors an agency that most fully exemplifies the qualities of a partner agency. Judged each year by the members of the United Way Board of Directors, the honor is measured by several criteria, including performance and commitment to better and more effectively serve our community, its support and promotion of the United Way and its partnership, and its faithfulness in maintaining the high standards required of partner agencies and in fulfilling its contractual commitment with the United Way.

Four agencies were in the running for this year’s Directors’ Award: Bethesda Mission, Adult Literacy Council and Progressive Directions, Inc. The agency selected as the recipient of this year’s Directors’ Award was Progressive Directions, Inc.

The Campaigning toward Potential Award recognizes the business, company, or agency that achieved the highest percentage of employee giving potential during the campaign year. This year this achievement award goes to the employees of US Bank, whose giving for the 2010-2011 campaign totaled an outstanding rate of 164% of their giving potential.

The outstanding performance of volunteers serving on the Campaign Cabinet and as coordinators who conduct the United Way Campaign within their company workplace were also recognized with presentations of the “Above and Beyond” Award. This award is based on several factors, including consistent attendance and participation at meetings and events, timeliness in fulfilling their responsibility, as well as criteria that set them apart, such as putting forth extra effort and creating and implementing special initiatives, as well as general enthusiasm in performing their role.

For their performance during the 2010-2011 Campaign the following were selected as recipients of the “Above and Beyond” Award; Velma Jo Williams, Adult Literacy Council; Brad Taylor, Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation; Lauren Staggs, City of Clarksville; Angie Gardner, Cumberland Bank & Trust; Amy Ely, Belk; Kathleen Hayes, Legends Bank and John Mucillo, Gateway Medical Center.

The Inspire Award honors and recognizes one company that led by example in planning and implementing a workplace campaign. This company created additional giving opportunities outside the normal workplace campaign. They motivated other businesses to step up and make a difference in the community by giving to the United Way. There were three nominees for this award; Hemlock Semiconductor, L.L.C., Gateway Medical Center and the City of Clarksville. This year’s 2010 Inspire Award was presented to the City of Clarksville.

The Outstanding Board Member Award was created to recognize an “Outstanding Board Member” and was judged by the United Way Board of Directors and staff. This year’s Outstanding Board Member award was presented to Ms. Elaine Jackson, Director of the Stewart County Coordinated School of Health for truly exemplifying what it means to serve on a volunteer board and for her unwavering dedication and invaluable service to the United Way.

Each year, the United Way hopes a new company will join the movement in advancing the common good. When it does occur, they are honored to give the “Way to Grow Award.” This year, there were four companies that were nominated for demonstrating considerable growth or for running a campaign for the first time. These companies are Domino’s Pizza, Gateway Medical Center, Cumberland Bank & Trust and Hemlock Semiconductor, L.L.C. This year’s 2010 co-winners are Gateway Medical Center and Hemlock Semiconductor, L.L.C.

Any time a person or a group partners with the United Way to help in any capacity, they like to say Thank You. When that person or group continually provides outstanding volunteer service with no thought of recognition of payment, they must offer an extra-special thank you. Therefore, the Volunteer of the Year Award was created. This year’s 2010 Volunteer of the Year Award was presented to Mr. Richard Schillo of Crye-Leike, Realty for his volunteer efforts throughout the year.

The United Way of the Greater Clarksville Region and its Partner Agencies are thankful to all who volunteer and support the local non-profit agencies. Because of the generous donors and volunteers, over 97,000 community members throughout Montgomery, Houston and Stewart Counties and the Fort Campbell Area were offered help and given hope for a better life in 2009. Together, as a community, we can make changes and continue to be rooted in community commitment.