United Way raises more than $15.1 million for Wichita area nonprofits

The United Way of the Plains announced Friday that it had surpassed its fundraising goal by raising $15,107,945 for the nonprofit groups it serves.

That money will help people such as Angela, a survivor of domestic violence who has received help from StepStone, one of three new programs receiving United Way funding for the first time this year. The Eagle is not using Angela’s last name because of safety concerns.

Angela used to keep her hurt bottled up, she said, but on Friday, she shared her story with a luncheon audience of 968 people who represented 142 companies in the area.

She said her mother was not around when she was a child, and her father was “very abusive.” Molested at age 17, she said, she later became involved in an unhealthy relationship of her own, moving into Harbor House when her daughter was 9 days old. Harbor House is a shelter operated by Catholic Charities.

A single mother of three children who said she is a certified nursing assistant working toward becoming a nurse, Angela said she has been getting help from StepStone for the past two years, including counseling. StepStone is an agency of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Adorers of the Blood of Christ.

“A weight that I have carried 20 years has been lifted off my shoulders,” Angela said.

In counseling, she has learned to focus on happy moments.

So she shared that on Thursday, when she was picking up her daughter from day care, the girl ran up to her and told her she loved her and had missed her. That was a happy moment.

“That’s all I really want to do is be happy,” she said.

Sharon Bastian, chair of StepStone’s board of directors, said receiving United Way funding for the first time has helped the agency help more people such as Angela.

“StepStone was doing a good job,” she said. “Now we’re doing a great job.”

Jackie Wise, vice president and general manager at Entercom Radio and the United Way’s 2014 campaign chairwoman, said the group had to go back to some donors to ask them to dig deeper to meet the $15.1 million goal.

She said the group’s ability to meet its goal when the Wichita economy hasn’t completely recovered is a testament to the community’s giving nature.

Serving as the campaign leader “has been one of the most satisfying volunteer experiences I have ever been involved with,” Wise said.

Paul Allen, chairman of the United Way board of directors and chief executive at Allen Gibbs & Houlik, thanked Wise for her “high enthusiasm and can-do outlook.”

The program Friday featured videotaped messages from agencies that receive United Way funding as well as thank-you moments to donors.

In one, Wichita City Manager Robert Layton sits with city employees receiving surprises from the United Way to thank them for donating $179,757. Layton sits with a vase of flowers. The woman next to him gets a box of chocolates. He looks back and forth from the flowers to the chocolates and switches out the presents, gifting himself the chocolates.

The city was one of 13 employers designated as part of the “Chairman’s Circle” for having donated between $150,000 and $999,999. The others were Airbus, Dillons, Johnson Controls, Learjet, Via Christi Health, Wesley Medical Center, Cargill, Davis-Moore Auto Group, Intrust Bank Arena, Koch Industries, QuikTrip and Wichita Public Schools.

Textron Aviation – representing Beechcraft, Cessna, Hawker, Beechcrafters’ Golden Rule Plan and the Cessna United Friendship Fund – raised $2.2 million, making it one of two “Million Dollar Circle” donors.

Spirit AeroSystems and its employees’ Good Neighbor Fund raised $2 million.

This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 1:22 PM with the headline "United Way raises more than $15.1 million for Wichita area nonprofits."