By Joe Bachman

The United Way of Inner Wisconsin has one message for its volunteers, sponsors and donors — ‘thank you’.

Sponsored by Dynamic Maintenance Solutions, the United Way held a ‘Thank you and Recognition Celebration’ on Tuesday night at Great Expectations Eatery. The United Way showed its appreciation to the many individuals, organizations, and sponsors that made their 2016 campaign a success.

“I think that no matter what sort of service you provide, there’s never enough ‘thank yous'”, said United Way CEO Tari Jahns. “There’s never enough opportunities to say thank you, and it can’t be overdone — so for us to have this opportunity to have the event sponsored to thank those who are willing and able to join us is what it’s really about.”

Awards presented, included the Per Capita Award, which awards a company for a high per-capita giving, the Participation Award, for high rates of participation, and a special recognition of those who went above and beyond.

This also includes leadership givers, which is any household that donates $500 dollars or more to the campaign, as well as loyal contributors, who have been donating at any level for ten years or more.

Janet Giese received a special award for her role as 2016 United Way of Inner Wisconsin Campaign Chair.

“Helping the community is really what United Way is about,” said Giese. “It’s all about the community, and it’s what we should all be doing.”

Award winners for the event were as follows:

Per Capita Awards

Gold $150+
-Enbridge Energy
-ERCO Worldwide

Silver $100-$149
-Alliant Energy
-Incourage
-Paper City Savings
-Solarus
-WE Energies
-Wisconsin Rapids Housing Authority
-WoodTrust Bank

Bronze $70-$99

-Bull’s Eye Credit Union
-Kerry
-Lycon
-River Cities Bank
-WestRock
-Wisconsin Rapids Fire Department
-Wood County Health Department

Participation Awards

Gold — 100%

-Adams County Corporation Counsel
-Adams County Personnel
-Childcaring Inc.
-Enbrudge Energy
-Family Center Inc.
-Fey Printing Co.
-Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce
-KeySavings Bank
-Mead-Witter Foundation
-River Cities Bank
-United Way of Inner Wisconsin
-Wood County Clerk of Courts
-Wood County Finance Department
-Wood County Health Department

Silver — 94%

-Wisconsin Rapids Fire Department

Special Recognition Awards

-E-Con Electric
-Jeremy Heqet & Stella Peters
-McDonald’s
-River Cities Bank
-Sweepstakes Sponsors
-The Print Shop
-Tom Loucks
-WFHR/WLJY

For more information, please visit uwiw.org.