United Way to celebrate 2021 campaign with virtual Victory

Jan. 21, 2022 (Racine, WI) — United Way of Racine County is dedicating an entire week to the celebration of its 99th campaign with its upcoming Virtual Victory Week on Jan. 24 through Jan. 28.

The virtual festivities will include a social media campaign to recognize current and previous Victory award winners, and a Victory webpage showing United Way’s impact and thanking the community for another successful campaign.

This year, United Way honored seven recipients with awards. Rebecca Mannetter and Linda Wheeler, both from Johnson Keland Management, won the 2021 ECC of the Year Award. Rebecca and Linda were able to increase their campaign donation this year by three percent and always have 100 percent participation in their workplace campaign. Their organization, creativity and engagement each year, especially while staff are working remotely, has been greatly appreciated and admired. Racine County Economic Development Corp. (RCEDC) won the 2021 Live United Award. RCEDC employees show strong engagement in their workplace campaign, and have always been willing to step up and try new things, such as buying holiday gifts for families in need and running drives for Racine’s community schools. Johnson Financial Group won the 2021 Chairman’s Club Award. Johnson Financial Group has been a Chairman’s Club member, meaning their yearly giving is $50,000 or more, for the past 10 years. Johnson Financial Group employees are always willing to volunteer their time for various United Way initiatives and the campaign cabinet and clearly have a strong dedication to the betterment of Racine County. Ralph Malicki, the owner of Malicki’s Piggly Wiggly in Racine, won the 2021 Michael Batten Advancing the Common Good Award. Ralph’s dedication to his community has shone through over the years. He has shown a willingness to volunteer his time with United Way, including his commitment as the 2021-23 United Way board chair. Ralph also sits on the Racine Zoological Society Board and the Racine County Food Bank Board. Twin Disc won the 2021 SC Johnson Loyal Contributor Award. Twin Disc has a longstanding partnership with United Way and has run active, successful campaigns for many years. Twin Disc employees have always been deeply engaged with campaign and other United Way efforts designed to better the Racine County community. Lorrie Emmons from InSinkErator was also awarded the 2021 Community Award for her years of dedication to the United Way community campaign.

United Way of Racine County also recognizes and is thankful for the support of the 2021 Victory sponsors: Johnson Financial Group, Gateway Technical College and Racine County.

“We are incredibly thankful to our community, our sponsors and everyone else who made our 99th campaign so successful,” said President and CEO of United Way of Racine County Ali Haigh. “Thanks to you, we’ve been able to make meaningful, shared impact in our community for almost 100 years.”

United Way of Racine County created impact in numerous ways in 2021. In December, thanks to a generous grant from the City of Racine, United Way was able to provide winter clothing gear to approximately 600 community school students. During the summer, around 140 community school students participated in a summer school extended learning program, a partnership between United Way and Racine Unified School District. Throughout the course of 2021, United Way awarded $380,619 in COVID Relief Funds to local nonprofits affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through the UWRC COVID Relief Fund and nearly $300,000 in training and technology needs to local nonprofits through the Training and Technology Fund.

United Way of Racine County invites the public to stay tuned for updates as it transitions into its centennial year after Victory Week. More information will be provided via social media and the United Way of Racine County website soon.

To learn more about this year’s Victory celebration, please visit: UnitedWayRacine.org/Victory.