Prairieland United Way Nears Goal After Successful Price is United Event

By Jeremy Coumbes on February 13, 2020 at 11:10am

Pictures courtesy of ElCrow Photography and Design

The Prairieland United Way is inching ever closer to their goal as the 2019 campaign winds down at the end of this month.

The 2019 campaign got a big boost this past Saturday from the Price is United event held at Hamilton’s 110 North East.

Prairieland United Way Executive Director Karen Walker says that she has received a lot of positive feedback about the event, and that she is very pleasantly surprised with the turnout and proceeds of the evening.

Part of the funds that we received were through our major sponsor Reynolds, so we already had that included in our campaign goal, but with what we raised that night, we are now a little over 95, almost 96% of the goal. We do not have the expense in yet on the cost of the meals, but that was really our only expense on that event because everything else was donated. All together we raised over $13,000.00 with the event, so our net should be around $9,000.00 which is really very substantial. For a first time event, we were pretty excited.”

Walker said that the support and donations both monetarily and in volunteer effort was was pretty amazing.

Polly Pulley of Spirit of Faith takes a spin on the big wheel. Photo courtesy of ELCrow Photography

It was just fantastic, so the ticket sales, the prizes we were able to give away, all of the game construction, the Meyer’s and Reynolds took care of all of that. We had just wonderful volunteers that put it all together including Gary Scott who was amazing, and Allen Stare who was amazing, and there was just a lot of support from the community, so it enabled us to really raise that dollar amount”

Gary Scott tells someone in the crowd- “You’re the next contestant…” Photo courtesy of ElCrow Photography

The Prairieland United Way has one more event coming up that will help in reaching the campaign goal. The 3rd annual trivia night will be held on Saturday, February 22nd on the Illinois College campus. Walker says that they are looking forward to having trivia night in Crispin Hall.

We are very thankful to I.C. for doing that for us. We will have pulled pork, sandwiches, chips, there will be a cash bar, there will be a lot of fun with the trivia.

We already have several tables sponsored by area businesses, tables are tables of ten people at $10.00 per person. But if you don’t have enough to make a table, just come on out and we will put you with a table that is needing someone. We always have one or two tables that are made up of individuals that come in that want to play but do not have a group to come with them, so we can create a table for you.”

Walker says that they could not have reached so close to the goal this year without the tremendous work done by this years co-chairs David and Nicole Meyer.

We definitely want to hit this goal. Those of you who were at the Price is United event know how hard our campaign chairs have just committed themselves to making this goal and to making our campaign a success. So we ask you to in their name if nothing else, to support us. If you have not been able to make a donation, we would welcome that, we really want to hit this goal for them. They have just put their heart and soul into it and I think it’s, not only do we need to support our community and the works that our agencies do, but on their behalf I want it to be a success in their eyes as well. They just have really done so much for us.”

Co-Chairs David and Nicole Meyer ElCrow Photagraphy and Design

To purchase tickets to the trivia night or to make a donation to the united way, contact Karen Walker at 245-4557 or by email at info@prairielandunitedway.org