United Way of Westchester and Putnam Announces Spirit of Westchester and Putnam Awards

TARRYTOWN, N.Y., Sept. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- United Way of Westchester and Putnam announces this year's recipients of the Spirit of Westchester and Putnam Awards. The Spirit awards are the most prestigious awards presented by United Way of Westchester and Putnam and are presented in five categories including: Community, Corporate, Labor, Partnership and Leadership. The awards will be presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting directly prior to the Top Chefs of Sleepy Hollow Country Club on October 4 at Abigail Kirsch at Tappan Hill Mansion.

The Community Award recognizes outstanding residential campaign performance, creative and successful campaign strategies, growth in leadership level giving, active community volunteer leadership involvement and strong local visibility. This year's Community Spirit Award will be presented to the Steering Committee of the United Way Tocqueville Society of Westchester and Putnam. Among the many contributing factors for this year's award is their continued inspiration to others in giving by matching dollar for dollar funds raised for programs such as Teach Me To Fish...Work Skills for Life, the Financial Education Program, and 2-1-1.

The Corporate Award recognizes outstanding employee campaign performance, generous corporate giving, successful campaign strategies and other special forms of leadership involvement. This year's Corporate Award will be presented to IBM Corporation. IBM has supported United Way of Westchester and Putnam since moving to Armonk in 1964. IBM contributes an average $50,000 annually through consulting services and equipment donations, such as the Young Explorer Systems, a partnership with UWWP, the child care council of Westchester and IBM that provides special hardware and software systems for pre-school children, in many child care centers throughout Westchester and Putnam. This past year, as IBM celebrated its centennial anniversary, Westchester IBM employees pledged more than 39,000 hours of service.

The Labor Award will be presented to UFCW Local 1500, representing workers at Stop and Shop and ShopRite.  Both supermarkets' employees have strongly supported United Way campaigns through fundraising and donating goods. UFCW Local 1500 encourages union members to volunteer and make a difference through their Strength through Action Response Team (S.T.A.R.T.) program that rewards employees with points when volunteer efforts are coordinated and carried out.  Employees are allowed to redeem S.T.A.R.T. points for prizes as an additional incentive to support local causes.

The Partnership Award was established in 1999 and recognizes an organization and its leadership for collaborating on effective ways to make Westchester and Putnam stronger and more caring.  This year's recipient is The Westchester Community Foundation for working together with United Way to develop and present the Not-For-Profit Leadership Summit for the past 10 years.  Each year the Foundation provides staff, volunteers, financial resources as well as high-level access to keynote speakers for the summit.  

The Volunteer Award recognizes a United Way volunteer whose uncommon leadership, vision and passion have strengthened United Way's capacity to carry out its mission.  This year's Volunteer Award will be presented to Janet Walker of White Plains. As Co-chair to the Community Impact Committee, Janet was instrumental in helping launch United Way's new community impact process starting in March 2009 and has given over 100 hours to effectively move the new education, income and health initiatives to their current state. Janet has played an important role on the board of directors of both United Way of Westchester and Putnam counties, and has served as a member of the Nurturing Children and Youth and the Intergenerational Community Impact Councils.  

Contact:  Barbara Wollenberg, 914.666.0066

SOURCE United Way of Westchester and Putnam