United Way reaches $100K goal
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The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley
Gary Clay, left, chair of the United Way of Randolph County Board of Directors, is presented a check for $10,000 from MegaCorp Logistics' David Kubichek Monday at the Davis Trust Company Bank. The donation put the United Way of Randolph County over its $100,000 annual campaign goal.
ELKINS -- During a very difficult year, the United Way of Randolph County battled through all of the COVID-19 barricades and restrictions and managed to reach its annual campaign goal.
"This has been a tough year, as everyone knows, and everything changed," said Gary Clay, chair of the board of directors of the United Way of Randolph County. "Our biggest event of the year is our in-person kickoff auction at the United Methodist Church and we weren't able to do that this year. We had to do it virtually and online and we did surprisingly well, but not as well as we would have in-person. So we took a little bit of a hit there as we started off the campaign."
Clay said the organization's meatball hoagie sale, which is usually a big finisher for the campaign, also was affected by the pandemic.
"The meatball hoagie sale usually does very well for us and we weren't able to do it at all," he said. "The year before we sold over 800 hoagies and brought in over $8,000 from that event, but it went by the wayside this year."
Despite its two biggest fundraisers taking a major hit, and the fact that workers from the United Way were unable to go into businesses seeking donations during the pandemic, many throughout the community stepped up and contributed to the campaign.
"With those two major hits and us not being able to go into businesses, we thought it was going to be a really tough year," Clay said. "But we had two anonymous donors give a little more this year and a lot of different individuals stepped up and helped out. And most of our businesses who we weren't able to go to and talk to, came through with workplace campaigns."
The finally tally was capped off on Monday and the thermometer signs around town made it to the top when MegaCorp Logistics donated the final $10,000 to help the organization get to the finish line.
"MegaCorp and Ryan Legg started his business in Elkins a number of years ago and now he has places across the country," Clay said. "But he still comes back each year and makes sure that he does something for the community. He truly believes in the United Way and has been a savior to us for a couple years in a row. The last three years the amount he has given has gone up and he always calls us and asks us how much we need. Every year he gives us the last check to put us at goal."
David Kubichek, account and office manager at MegaCorp, said the company is always willing to help the United Way in any way it can.
"Ryan Legg is always happy to step up for the United Way in a time of need," Kubichek said. "The year 2020 was definitely a year that required a lot of different avenues and fundraising that was held back for the United Way because of it. MegaCorp is definitely glad to be a part of them reaching their goal, and Ryan is always happy to be a part of the community here in Elkins."
All of the money taken in goes to the United Way's 16 non-profit funding partners. Those include: American Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America, Catholic Charities, Committee on Aging for Randolph County, Elkins-Randolph YMCA, Family Resource Network, Elkins/Randolph Public Library, Helvetia Public Library, Pioneer Memorial Public Library, Russell Memorial Public Library, Valley Head Public Library, Literacy Volunteers of Randolph County, Meals on Wheels, Randolph County Homeless Shelter, Randolph County Children's Advocacy Center, and Randolph County Humane Society.
"We were happy if we were going to reach 80 percent of our goal, given everything that was going on," Clay said. "To be at 100 percent and to be able to fund all of those agencies with every dollar we told them about is incredible. The community really stepped forward in a tough time and supported us."