February is Black History Month

As we wrap up the month of February, we hope that you will join us in celebrating and honoring Black History. Please enjoy listening to B.J. and Briley Kent, brother/sister duo and A.E. Phillips Elementary School students, as they read Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins, illustrated by Bryan Collier.
We know that diversity and inclusion are vital to achieving United Way of Northeast Louisiana’s mission of helping people and improving our community. That's why we believe it’s critical to foster and promote an inclusive environment that leverages the unique contributions of diverse individuals and organizations in all aspects of our work.
Celebrating Excellence 2020 is going virtual!
Celebrating Excellence is United Way of Northeast Louisiana's annual celebration of generosity and unwavering community spirit, seeking to honor community partners, campaigns, volunteers, and donors. This year's events will be 100% virtual. Register for the Zoom event at unitedwaynela.org/excellence or tune in for the Facebook live stream on Wednesday, March 10th at 9:00am for the Lincoln, Union, and Jackson Parishes event and/or Thursday, March 11th at 9:00am for the Regional event. We hope you'll join us!
Workplace Employee Campaign Spotlight: AMCOR

Our friends at AMCOR are always ready to make their annual United Way NELA campaign a fun one! This year, in addition to their annual employee giving campaign, they had a dunking booth as a special event for their campaign! Their local management took turns getting in the dunking booth, and employees had the opportunity to pay for 5 throws to try to dunk them. They had a blast, and raised an additional $770 for their campaign from this event as well as hamburger sales. What a fun and engaging way to get people excited about the campaign!

Great job, AMCOR! Thank you! We are impressed by your commitment to LIVE UNITED.
Workplace Employee Campaign Spotlight: Lasalle Management Company

Our friends at Lasalle Management Company are always proud to support United Way NELA. Their employees enjoy giving back to the community as well as having fun during their annual campaign. 

Lasalle Management Company CEO, Billy McConnell, honors the generosity of his employees with special thank yous. For the past 2 years, they gave away a “pick your own vacation” for those employees making a pledge of $20/month. They also created company shirts to sell during their campaign. In 2020, these awesome employees sold a Lasalle Management Company cookbook, which was a huge success!

At the end of the campaign, CEO Billy McConnell suggested that he would KISS A PIG if his company reached 65% employee participation! Well, they reached the goal, and he DID get to kiss a pig!

Great job, Lasalle Management Company! Thank you! We are impressed by your commitment to LIVE UNITED.
Louisiana Early Ed Week 2021

Thank you to those who joined us for the Louisiana Early Ed Week 2021 Virtual Event on Wednesday, February 24th.

We know that Louisiana’s future depends upon investing in quality early education experiences that prepare our children to grow, learn, and succeed in school and in life, and Louisiana’s present depends upon supporting working parents. All of us – public officials, business leaders, educators and parents – have a role to play in making quality early care and education accessible to Louisiana’s families. Thank you for joining us as we rededicated ourselves to our youngest children’s educational foundation and success. 
VolunteerUNITED Spotlight:
Vantage Health Plan

Our friends at Vantage Health Plan recently dropped off encouraging cards, notepads, and toothbrushes to all the residents of Francis Towers. They wanted to be sure the residents felt loved and cared for in time for Valentine's Day.

And last year, these awesome employees helped shop for United Way's Food for our Friends grocery deliveries and delivered the groceries to the homes of those in need of food assistance.
These go-getters are always looking for volunteer opportunities to help make our community a better place to live!
Vantage team, THANK YOU for your volunteerism! Keep up the great work – you're making a difference.

Tune in to Facebook every Friday for a VolunteerUNITED spotlight!
Is your workplace or group interested in volunteer opportunities?

To build a volunteer project best suited to your group or company's needs, contact Jessica Hughes, VolunteerUNITED Manager, at [email protected].
211 Day Collaboration with West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber of Commerce
Thank you to the West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber of Commerce for highlighting 211 Day on February 11th! Please take a moment and hear from Lila Strode, WMWO Chamber President, and learn more about United Way NELA 211.
United Way NELA 211: Look for us on your commute!

Have you seen our NEW United Way NELA 211 billboards? Be sure to drive by and take a look at the Monroe digital board (Hwy 165 at Forsythe Extension), the West Monroe digital board (Thomas Road at McMillan Road), and the Ruston static board (I-20 eastbound, 0.2 miles from Ruston).
Connect with us!
United Way of Northeast Louisiana | unitedwaynela.org