United Way's Annual Celebration Held as a Tribute to People and ImpactN
Nearly 300 donors, volunteers, and community partners filled Lake Michigan College’s Mendel Center Grand Upton Hall on Thursday, April 24, for United Way of Southwest Michigan’s Annual Celebration, an evening that looked back on 2024 and honored the people who made last year’s impact possible. During my opening remarks, I reminded guests that the money we raise is indeed important, but the night was really about the work of our impact partners, volunteers, and companies, and their willingness to “live united” for neighbors across Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties.
Among the recognition and appreciation given during the evening was focused on our volunteers. The Margaret B. Upton Volunteer Leadership Award—Berrien County’s lifetime‐achievement honor for community service—went to Rick Freridge, whose vision and elbow grease have transformed the St. Joseph-Lincoln Senior Service Center grounds and inspired scores of volunteers at Habitat for Humanity, Sarett Nature Center, and beyond. The Frederick S. Upton Foundation will donate $5,000 to a charity of his choice. Other finalists for the award included Sue Willming, and Joy Darlene Hawkins and Jolita Allene Smith, affectionately known as “The Twins.”
Leigh Goyings, who has spent more than three decades guiding Helping Hands of Cass County, championing the Cass County CROP Hunger Walk, and preserving Edwardsburg’s history, accepted the Judge Susan L. Dobrich Volunteer Leadership Award, which allows her to direct a $5,000 grant to a Cass County nonprofit thanks to the McLoughlin Family Foundation. Other finalists for the award included Tim Hulett, Roseann Marchetti, and Carl Ross.
Workplace campaign champions were also celebrated. Indiana Michigan Power’s Cook Nuclear Plant earned the organizational Live United Award for combining a generous employee pledge drive with raffles, T-shirt sales, and a charity golf outing. The individual Live United Award went to Whirlpool Corporation’s Eduardo Lopez, whose steady leadership keeps the company’s popular appliance sales running smoothly and profitably for United Way. United Federal Credit Union took home the Whirlpool Community Commitment Award for pairing a sizeable pledge increase with robust volunteer turnout, and Kinexus Group captured the David J. Weichhand Award for weaving trivia contests, chili cook-offs, and even an escape-room challenge into its creative campaign.
We were also lucky enough to enjoy remarks from John Farden, Executive Vice President of Global Network Advancement & Operations at United Way Worldwide. John spoke about his role in unifying communities using the power of United Way’s influence and connections to make sure people and organizations have the support they need. He also spoke about the immense network of aligned United Way organizations across the state, country, and world, that lift up each other with resources and support, so our local United Ways can be focused more on our community work.
A big thank you to the sponsors who made our Celebration possible—Corewell Health as Platinum Sponsor; Michigan Works! Berrien-Cass-Van Buren, Silver Beach Pizza, and Whirlpool Corporation as Series Sponsors; and an array of Gold, Silver, Bronze, and in-kind partners including Sturgis Bank, Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber, Honor Credit Union, Kruggel Lawton CPA, BluCat Consulting, and The Purpose Partners.
United Way of Southwest Michigan keeps every dollar donated in Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties to help fund more than 70 programs at over 45 partner agencies while also operating signature initiatives such as Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA), 2-1-1, and Volunteer United. We would love for you to see the wonderful work being done and the recap of our Celebration at uwsm.org/celebration-2025. Thank you for supporting United Way!
