The United Way of Greenbrier Valley has appointed two new campaign chairs for the season, Paula Thomas and Colin Rose. Both Thomas and Rose are vital members of the community running multiple businesses as well as working within the medical field. Now, they are both working toward upcoming fundraisers for United Way in their new positions as Campaign Chairs.
Like most events, many of the United Way’s fundraising efforts had to be canceled in 2020 due to pandemic concerns. This organization supports many local causes with the funds raised from the events that they hold. Being unable to have many of their events meant that they lost out on funds to support these causes. Thomas said one of the things that make her passionate about working with the United Way is “I like that the money that is raised stays within the community.” She went on to say that they cover “Greenbrier Valley which is Greenbrier County, Pocahontas and Monroe, so everything that is raised stays within those three counties.”
When asked what made him passionate about working with the United Way, Rose said, “When you look around the community and you see how many places need support; is it the food bank, is it animal welfare, is it the women’s shelter, there are so many good causes and any one of those individually doesn’t have the depth to do the fundraising to raise the funds they need to support the various charitable things they are doing.” He continued saying, “So you get United Way which has now grown to be the size that it is and you’re talking a budget of $3-400,000, so they are able to raise that kind of money and spread it around where they feel the need is greatest.”
The United Way determines where the money should go via an Allocations Board. This board was how Thomas first got involved with United Way. She said she was asked to sit on the board for a couple of years. During this time, she also got involved with fundraising and quickly brought Rose in to help as well. Now, they have been appointed the position of Campaign Chairs for the 2021 season which lasts until next April.
Thomas and Rose said that they are working on quite a few fundraisers throughout the year, but details are still being worked out. The kickoff event will take place on August 9, 2021. Due to continued pandemic concerns, Thomas noted that it has been difficult to get venues to commit. Because of this, planning has been somewhat difficult.
Regardless, besides the kickoff event, they are also planning the annual Empty Bowls event as well as others. The Empty Bowls event is a community involvement event. Local potters create beautiful bowls and local restaurants make delicious soups to fill those bowls. One of the United Way’s biggest events, the Chocolate Festival has now been canceled two years in a row due to COVID-19. They are hopeful that the event will make a full return in April 2022.
A new program this year is the Live United Young Leaders. Thomas stated that the United Way of Greenbrier Valley has chosen 10 up-and-coming young leaders in the community. These 10 people will hold their own fundraising events with each attempting to meet and surpass preset goals. At the end of this program in mid-October, there will be a final event where it will be announced how much they raised and who raised the most money.
When not working with the United Way, both Rose and Thomas lead incredibly busy lives. Thomas has her own ultrasound business from which she contracts her services. Rose is a practicing Radiologist. He also owns a medical billing company for which Thomas does some of the coding.
They also own The Asylum, The Washington Street Pub and the Escape Hotel. All of which are located in Lewisburg, part of Greenbrier County. Rose noted that Thomas runs and oversees all of the daily operations for the Escape Hotel.
In addition to all of their businesses, both Rose and Thomas are set to be quite busy with all of the upcoming United Way events. More information on these events will be available soon.
For more information on the United Way of Greenbrier Valley, visit their website at www.unitedwaygreenbrier.org.
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