SALISBURY — Building Community Together is the theme of this year’s United Way Campaign, focusing on pieces of the puzzle coming together and encouraging the community to be a piece of that puzzle to build a stronger community.

“It takes all of us working together to build a stronger community,” said Kaisha Brown, campaign chair, “and it’s not too late for people to join us as a piece of the puzzle.”

The campaign has been in progress for 10 weeks, and on Nov. 22 the campaign finale was held at the F&M Trolley Barn with United Way staff, board members, the Campaign Cabinet, leaders from the area nonprofits that benefit from the funds raised through the campaign, volunteers, donors and family and friends all gathered to hear the tally at this point.

Following a welcome and thank yous by Jenny Lee, executive director of Rowan County’s United Way, Brown made her entrance with three members of the Catawba College cheer team and members of the Salisbury Dancing Queens. They danced their way to the stage and performed a short dance they had choreographed to the song, “We’re All In This Together,” said Audrey Eudy, philanthropy director for United Way.

It is that working together that Brown stressed throughout the campaign as she said, that “no matter the shape or size of the puzzle, we need each other because we’re all pieces of a puzzle.”

Puzzle pieces lay on the floor, and members of the Campaign Cabinet were invited to come to the stage area and pick up one of those pieces. Brown then asked them to show the audience how much had been raised, said Eudy, “we turned them all around” and revealed that $1,003,251 had been raised during those 10 weeks.

“We raised over $1 million in 10 weeks and that is what the finale is about, celebrating the success of everyone coming together and raising over $1 million in 10 short weeks,” said Eudy. “It’s amazing. It’s a miracle and a blessing.”

Brown said that when the total came in, she was excited as she credited the cabinet, those who, as she said, “were the boots on the ground. I was really happy.”

Throughout the campaign, she said that she wanted to be over a million dollars, and when they got the total, she was excited that they were over that million-dollar mark.

However, she said, “as I reminded people, we made great progress, we are over one million dollars, but our work isn’t done. Our overall goal is $1.1 million, so we still have funds to raise.”

Eudy noted that even since the special campaign event, she had collected additional campaign money to add to this total and anticipated more coming in as there were still “plenty of donors out there who haven’t given yet, who we know will step forward. So we’re still marching on to our goal of $1.1 million” as she shared that the campaign would continue through some time in January.

And Brown likewise said that she knew “with the generosity of our community, that by the time we end the official campaign that we will be there. So I’m hopeful.”

In addition to the announcement of funds raised, another long-awaited piece of information was shared during the event, and that was the name of the winner of the car giveaway.

The winner was selected from a process of elimination of 12 car finalists, said Eudy. Each of the finalists were donors who had given at least $78 or more and were given an entry into the giveaway and drawn and their names were placed in blank envelopes and put in a box.

All 12 were called to the stage and the four car dealerships representatives were called to come forward through the program to pull an envelope and call out the name. The giveaway was made possible because of these dealerships. With each name called, the list of 12 finalists decreased to six, and later in the program the remaining six finalists came back up and three more were eliminated and one more until there were only two standing.

The next card was the name of the winner and when it was pulled, Don Ambers from Innospec, Inc. was declared the winner of the car giveaway this year.

“I was very happy when my name was called as the winner of the car. I couldn’t believe it,” Ambers said. “I told my family when I was selected as one of 12 finalists to win a car a few weeks prior to the event.”

He shared that he and his wife Aubra said, “this would be a blessing to win a new vehicle to give to our daughter (Keynai) for college. She has a vehicle at the moment, but this is an around town, point-A-to-B car, nothing we would send here to college in.”

When Ambers name was called, Eudy said there was lots of cheering, and a silver platter was presented to him with four white boxes with blue ribbons. Ambers selected one of the boxes and pressed the panic button on the key fob inside revealing which car dealership he would be getting his car from, The car lights came on, and the car horn sounded, and the crowd knew at that time he would be getting his vehicle from Team Chevrolet, Eudy said, noting that he would make a deal with that dealership and they sent a check for $25,000 toward that purchase.

“We love giving away the car. It’s very exciting.”

Ambers said that his daughter is enjoying that new car, a “Chevrolet Trax, and is prime to be riding in a reliable vehicle for college. We want to thank the Lord for the blessing, also want to thank United Way and Team Chevrolet for this experience. I would also like to say this is a real thing. All it took was donations even if you can only give a few dollars, it’s a blessing for those that are in need,” he said.

And while the other finalists didn’t win a car, they didn’t go home empty-handed, Eudy said, as each received a $100 gift card, plus the meal and fun at the event.

She said that for her, she enjoyed talking with each of the 12 donors, hearing their stories of why “they think it’s important to support the United Way. Getting to talk to them was a blessing for me.”

Brown expressed her thanks to Dr. Shirley Disseler and Ryan Disseler with BrickEd for their participation in the entire campaign, providing activities for each reporting event plus the kick-off and finale.

“They did it because they believe in community,” said Brown.

Thanks were also given to her core team who provided lots of personal support and encouragement from the time she was contacted by United Way to serve as the chair to the finale. “That would definitely be the biggest thing,” she said. 

These included her mother, Barbara Brown, Rodney Harrison, Gemale Black and Fern Blair.

This core team also helped her create her theme, noting that she and her great-grandmother and grandmother all loved puzzles and how they remind her of her roots and her Mississippi home. She knew that she wanted to incorporate something with puzzles into her theme.

The United Way PR Committee was another piece of her puzzle working to get the theme to come to fruition. She said this group was fantastic.

Lisa Humphrey designed the logo and with her artistic creativity brought it to life and the rest helped with marketing, she added.

Her core team, Brown said, “were there to encourage me and help me see my vision” and her mom called her the night before the finale to wish her luck and told her that “no matter what the goal was, you just give it your all.”

She also praised her campaign cabinet, multiple of whom surpassed their goals and all else who were in attendance at the event.

“It was a great day. It was a beautiful day,” said Eudy, also noting the great meal they had as Linda Black with Black Tie Occasions provided a build your own fajita/taco bar, and shared what a great place the F&M Trolley Barn is for this special celebration and what a great host they are.

Representatives from the 15 nonprofits were on hand. These groups that will benefit from the funds include Scouts of America Central N.C. Council, Capstone Recovery Center, Families First-N.C., Family Crisis Council, Mainstreet Marketplace and Meeting Place, Nazareth Child and Family Connection, One Love Community Programs, Rowan County Literacy Council, Rowan Helping Ministries, Rowan-Salisbury Schools, Rufty Holmes Senior Center, Salisbury Police Department, The Salvation Army, YMCA of Rowan County and Communities in Schools.

The programs that are offered through these nonprofits is “why we’re raising the money,” said Eudy, so that when people need help, there is a program ready to help them.

Brown said that she has been overjoyed and humbled by the experience that has taken place over these past weeks, telling that we all have a role to play in building communities together across the county, reminding that it takes everyone.

“It’s a beautiful thing, the photo is coming together,” she said. “It’s not complete yet, we’re still missing two puzzle pieces, but it’s coming together beautifully.”