United Way of Greater Kingsport reflects on 2024, what's to come

KINGSPORT — Supporters, staff and partners of United Way of Greater gathered Tuesday for the 2024 annual meeting reviewing some of the past year's achievements.Danelle Glasscock, executive director for the organization, kicked off the event with welcoming remarks recognizing the Hurricane Helene relief response from numerous agencies across the region."As we reflect on 2024 and all the great accomplishments, we'd be remiss if we didn't also talk about Hurricane Helene and that historical event that hit our region and our United Way," Glasscock said. "And so we're going to be talking today about more facts and details on that as we continue to unfold the significance of this event."The Tennessee Department of Transportation Regional Communications Specialist Drew Rutherford served as the keynote speaker for the event, providing information on the department's initial response following the storm and updates on major roads and bridges impacted.Rutherford explained that he is a Sullivan County native, which made the impacts of the storm feel "close to home" as it affected friends and neighbors."I'm sure you all remember watching things as they unfolded on the 27th of September," he said. "I was shocked, I imagine everybody kind of had a degree of surprise and disbelief that this could be happening here — a hurricane, of all things — to be impacting the mountains of East Tennessee."He said TDOT's response to damage caused by Hurricane Helene initiated a "statewide response." This meant calling in bridge inspectors, survey units, and members of the strike force to respond to the area."We set up a war room in our region office and at 11:30 we had a call with everybody across the state and asked them to stay tuned," Rutherford said. "'We're going to need your help. We don't know how yet, but we're going to need you to send people to come help us recover from this.'"For the first 100 hours, Rutherford said more than 400 TDOT employees from across the state responded to the disaster. Inspectors looked at 310 bridges in that time frame and were able to bring 25 roads back online of the 49 initially closed after flooding.TDOT expects right-of-way debris removal to be completed by the end of the month, based on the current contract. Rutherford said TDOT has collected more than 400,000 cubic yards of storm debris off of interstate and state roads."That's just a number, but if you want a visualization that would cover the field at J. Fred Johnson Stadium and go about 210 feet in the air," Rutherford said. "That's trees, it's mud and dirt, it's refrigerators and mattresses and everything that you have seen in the pictures."Helping handsBecca Sutphen, senior director of community impact for UWGK, highlighted how several United Ways came together to aid in volunteer management during the relief response.Through the Volunteer United platform, more than 5,000 new users signed up to be a volunteer following the disaster."The volunteer spirit was demonstrated time and time again through the emergency phase of the disaster," Sutphen said. "People answered the call. They showed up with purpose, with supplies, and we'd like to thank all those neighbors, nonprofits, churches, businesses and government entities who showed up and keep showing up."She mentioned the work of groups like Bristol Motor Speedway who offered their space as a donation and distribution warehouse for several months, as well American Red Cross who provided 83 individuals shelter for over 800 overnight stays."Appalachia Service Project committed to rebuilding at least 200 homes and has currently completed 40 and counting; Goodwill Industries served the most critical role of collecting donations of clothing and created the first of its kind mobile clothes closet still making rounds today, but the work is not done," Sutphen said. "Many organizations still need volunteers to help rebuild homes and lives in East Tennessee. Thank you all for your support as we continue to restore our Northeast Tennessee home."Several awards were presented during the meeting, including the Live United Award given this year to Laurie Paulonis. Paulonis has served as a volunteer with UWGK for over 15 years, according to a recent release, and was recently honored at Kingsport's Best Philanthropy Awards for her community service.The Outstanding Impact Award was presented to Frank Waldo, the founder of Appalachian Miles for Smiles. He was presented the award "for his dedication and leadership to health efforts across the community," the release states.Financial outlookDonna Jones, 2024 financial chair for UWGK, said the year's total revenue exceeded budget by $256,000, which was attributed to market gains and extra donations from Hurricane Helene.She said total expenditures were $119,000 under budget "due to careful monitoring of expenses" and staff vacancies, according to the unaudited financial records.The organization ended the year with a positive net income of $122,968."Without the gain on investments included in revenue, there would have been a negative net income of approximately $76,000, which reflects the board strategy of using some of the long term strategic investments to supplement the funding of the agencies and initiatives," Jones said. "So in summary, United Way had a good financial year in 2024 and is in a strong financial position going into 2025."Passing the gavelCraig Schmidt, outgoing board president, reflected on his time as a leader and what United Way was able to achieve with the help of the community. He mentioned that 900 volunteers worked on 90 different projects during the 2024 Week of Caring. This amassed to 5,600 hours of volunteering during that week alone.He said the money raised from the 2024 annual fundraising campaign will help support 27 local agencies and 33 programs this year. He thanked everyone for their efforts in making it a "successful" year for United Way."The 2024 campaign raised over $2.6 million in cash and pledges, along with over $228,000 in grants and in kind donations," Schmidt said. "And while the numbers are impressive, this is the dedication of donors like everybody in this room who carry out this important work every single day."Schmidt stepped down to pass the gavel to Brent Mullins, who will serve as the 2025 president of UGWK's board of directors. Mullins said 2025 is "extra special" as the organization uses new branding and communication, as well as operates under the theme of "United is the Way.""As the incredible work of nonprofits in our community continues, as we exit some of the challenges of the past few years, we enter new challenges, the economics for individuals and families in our community, that's why your help and support the United Way is needed now more than ever."For more information about United Way of Greater Kingsport, visit https://www.uwaykpt.org.