INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – Mary Sellers grew up in Vero Beach and graduated from St. Edwards High School before going on to graduate degrees and an impressive career influencing non-profit organizations. Today, she is the U.S. President of United Way Worldwide, (UWW).
Sellers spoke to a crowd of 150 guests at the United Way of Indian River County Community Leaders Breakfast presented by Florida Power & Light on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
Bart Gaetjens, External Affairs Manager, Florida Power & Light shared an invocation.
“We are proud to sponsor this annual breakfast for you, the movers, shakers, and more importantly, leaders of Indian River County,” he added.
Sellers spoke about how United Way fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in every community. She also highlighted strengths and accomplishments she’s seen through the work of the United Way of Indian River County, (UWIRC).
Michael Kint, CEO, UWIRC, recognized United Way Worldwide for the “research and due diligence to come up with new, more effective ways to serve our communities. Our United Way can build on the work done at UWW as we are doing now with Community Impact.”
Kint went on to explain that raising over $3 million in recent annual campaigns is important, but “the measure of United Way is not in the fundraising campaign, but in the ways we are impacting the community.”
He referred to the 1,000 volunteers that participated in United Way’s Day of Caring on Oct., 14, and invited guests to get involved in some way.
Annual awards were presented by United Way Chair Susan Adams, and Chair-elect Jeff Smith. This United Way’s most prestigious awards include the Ralph T. King Award, to honor extraordinary service and commitment to UWIRC, which was presented to Tom Manwaring; and the Agency Excellence Award for a nonprofit agency that has made a tremendous impact on this community, which was presented to the Mental Health Association.
Dan K. Richardson Spirit Awards were presented for exceptional community philanthropy to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, Bank of America and CenterState Bank.
Fred Augenstein was recognized for “Extraordinary Service and Dedication to our Mission” for 20 years and countless hours of service.
Jeff Smith received an award on behalf of the Indian River County Clerk of the Circuit Court staff, which ranked #1, (per capita), in the state of Florida for outstanding United Way campaign results. Public Sector campaign results are tabulated throughout the state each year. Other remarkable results in this tabulation included the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office which was 6th in the state; the Supervisor of Elections which was 3rd; and the Indian River County School District which was 5th in the state of Florida.
For more information about United Way or to give online, visit the website at UnitedWayIRC.org. United Way of Indian River County invites people to get involved by helping others. Go to VolunteerIndianRiverCounty.org to learn about local opportunities for service.
