Middlesex Hospital Receives Top Honor at Awards Breakfast - Final 2010-11 Fundraising Tally Announced

Hundreds gathered at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell to honor more than eighty companies and organizations, their employees, and community leaders who contributed $1,925,723 to the 2010-11 Middlesex United Way 75th Anniversary Campaign. This amount is about 3% over the campaign goal of $1,875,000.

Please click here for a listing of all companies and organizations honored and the award categories for which they qualified.

“Every year around the world, thousands of coordinators and volunteers are mobilized to raise resources on behalf of United Way,” said Gary Simonsen of PrimePay, President of the Middlesex United Way Board of Directors. “That cumulative effort results in a total of four billion dollars raised across the globe. You are part of this worldwide movement to advance the common good for all.

“Your efforts are changing lives and moving the needle on community conditions,” Mr. Simonsen continued. “And it’s working…we are getting results and creating real, lasting change in the areas of education, income, health and housing.”

The top honor of the day, the Corporate Spirit Award, was presented to Middlesex Hospital for their record-breaking campaign results. The Corporate Spirit Award is the highest honor a company can receive for running a United Way campaign. Middlesex Hospital’s campaign, coordinated by Gary Havican and Cheryl Rogers (both pictured at left), experienced a 17% increase over the previous year raising a total of $119,000. The number of employees who contributed increased by 25%. The campaign was highlighted by a festive “penny wars” competition among departments and a basket raffle. The penny wars alone collected more than 51,000 pennies towards the campaign (with One MacDonough Place winning the bragging rights as the winner!).

Other top honors included:

• Leadership Awards to Portland First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield and Wesleyan President Michael Roth;
• Coordinators of the Year to Chuck Marqua and Andy O’Brien from Middletown Public Schools; and
• Funding Partner of the Year to Community Health Center.

Special Achievements Awards for outstanding United Way campaigns were presented to: Colebrook Financial; Kuhn Employment Opportunities; Suburban Stationers and Suburban Office Furniture; TJX Companies comprising Marshalls, Homegoods and TJ Maxx stores; and Wright-Pierce.

The event brought to a close Middlesex United Way’s 75th Anniversary Campaign, and the three co-chairs who oversaw the fundraising effort were acknowledged for their outstanding leadership and advocacy on behalf of United Way. The co-chairs were:

• Chandler Howard, President and CEO of Liberty Bank;
• Larry McHugh, President of the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce; and
• Michael Roth, President of Wesleyan University.

McHugh introduced the co-chairs of the 2011-12 Middlesex United Way Campaign who will be Harry Eben Burr of McCutcheon Burr & Sons and Arthur “Buddy” McDowell of Middlesex Hospital.