Sioux Empire United Way celebrated the start of the 2020 Campaign on Thursday morning with nearly 300 community supporters attending a Kickoff Event at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.
Volunteer Campaign Chair, Miles Beacom announced this year’s fundraising goal of $10,074,508. Beacom noted, “Our community has successfully met our fundraising goal for the past 24 years, and we know our community is capable of stepping forward again to ensure we are able to fund all 85 programs.”
The Kickoff Event started with over 100 staff, clients, and volunteers of United Way funded agencies receiving recognition for their hard work across the community. Event highlights also included Imagination Library, as the program prepares to celebrate delivering its two millionth book of the program later this fall. Event attendees also heard from Chris Dieters, who was recently saved by an AED funded through United Way after experiencing a cardiac arrest.
Last year’s Sioux Empire United Way campaign was supported by 24,000 individuals and 700 businesses. In the next few months, more than 700 volunteers will work on the community fundraising effort.