Thursday, September 1, 2022 at Moody Gardens Hotel, Spa and Convention Center

If you joined us, thank you! If you couldn’t make it, we sincerely missed you ❤️ Either way, September 1, 2022 was a lovely day of togetherness, and we thought you might enjoy a recap of what we talked about and why. Plus, we have fantastic photos from the one and only Manny Chan and the always fabulous Treva Wygle to show you!

Let’s start with the concept: 

• We haven’t had our Annual Luncheon since 2019 because of the pandemic. And,
• We have been buuuuuuusy at United Way of Galveston since you last saw us! 

 

So…our team put those two pieces together and did something completely different this year! There was no famous speaker. There were no flashy announcements about fundraising goals. It was very, very simple. 

We sat down for an igloo-side* chat to have a heart-to-heart conversation with three of our Board Members, moderated by our executive director. *it was too hot for a fireside chat, plus we had the penguins right next door in the Aquarium Pyramid, so it made more sense from a logistical  and metaphorical standpoint to go this direction 😉

We not only kept it simple, we kept it focused on our work. And we explained who we mean when we say “we”. And who the work that we do impacts. And why that’s important. And why we need your help in keeping this work going. 

Our primary goal was to reconnect our stakeholders and shareholders by breaking bread together. And, equally important, we wanted to deliver an impactful and inspirational talk that would leave attendees knowing that what we do matters, and that we are still really needed in Galveston. And that we have 99 years of demonstrated excellence of being trustworthy, effective, and efficient connectors between those who need help and those who can help. 

Now that you know what we did, let’s talk about who was there! We had 250 of our closest friends in the room, which was such a delight. We had tables full of Corporate Partners, Partner Agencies, and community partners that we work with. We heard excited chatter. We saw warm and long-overdue hugs. We saw hope and we saw each other for the first time in ages. 

We would like to extend a special thanks to Moody Gardens Hotel, Spa and Convention Center for being our host with the most! Their always-amazing catering team created a delicious meal and provided above-and-beyond planning and execution to make our event details just perfect. We would also like to extend a very special thank-you to KTOR the Tornado Productions and Ball High’s Media Program’s A-Team Students, who were on-site to serve up the best tunes from their DJ booth, AND help us with our annual video. And, our Table Sponsors (below)! Thank you for bringing a whole team to our gathering!!

It’s been a few days since we kicked off our 99th Annual Workplace Giving Campaign with you, and we have been so busy planning fundraising events for our Partner Agencies and working on a Top Secret Project, that this is the first chance we had to share this recap and our photos. 

Thanks for your patience. Thanks for your support. Thanks for being a huge reason that United Way of Galveston changes everything. 

We will see you soon!
Lindsey White, Executive Director, United Way of Galveston

THANK YOU to our Table Sponsors!!!