There is always someone

experiencing you for the first time. Be the message you seek to deliver! — Scott Ginsberg, The Nametag Guy

Spring 2010

Young Leader of the Year Recognized at 2010 Annual Meeting

YLS is designed for young professionals who want to make a difference in the community.

Did You Know?

⇒ United Way of Marion County’s Young Leaders Society was created in 1987 ⇒ American’s gave $307 billion or 2.2% of their income last year ⇒ The main driver for people monetarily giving is basic human need

Look us up on the web at www.uwmc.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter If you need more information contact Summer at 732-9696 or sgill@uwmc.org

United Way of Marion County recently recognized four volunteers at the Annual Meeting of the Membership. One of those recognized was our very own Young Leader, Lisa Rice, the Grants Coordinator for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. Lisa has been at the Sheriff’s Office for six years and a member of Young Leaders for five years where she has been on the steering committee for the last two. Lisa has continued to be dedicated to growing Young Leaders and the positive impact of young professionals within both United Way and Marion County while keeping up a busy personal and professional life. Lisa is a mother of two very active and involved children, Matthew and Kinely. Along with working full time she is also going to school full time to finish up her Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and will begin her Master’s degree immediately upon finishing her undergraduate. She is also very active in the Florida Governor’s Sterling Council for Performance Excellence, a Senior Examiner and Chairs the Statics Committee for the Marion County Grant Network. We are honored and blessed to have such a dynamic person helping

lead the Young Leaders Society. Congratulations Lisa! Other volunteers honored at the event include Dirk Leeward of Ocala4Sale, who was awarded the Bonnie Heath Award of Excellence, which honors a volunteer each year whose leadership and commitment to the United Way of Marion County has stood out above others over a period of at least ten years including being one of the founding members of the Young Leaders Society. Also recognized was Dave Fechtman of Root Theory Advisors who received the Frances Thigpin Volunteer of the Year Award. This award is given to a volunteer in the community and goes above and beyond what he or she may have been asked or recruited to do. And lastly the Youth United Way Member of the Year was given to Virginia Liddell, a senior at Vanguard High School.

Dan Kuhn, Lisa and Matthew Rice, and Chief Samuel Williams

Do you want to make an impact in the

Young Leaders Society?

Join us on Wednesday, May 5 at 12:00 pm for YLS Steering committee meeting. We will be meeting at Pi on Broadway in Downtown Ocala.(110 Southwest

Broadway Ocala 34471) New members are always welcomed. New members = new ideas! The Steering Committee meets quarterly to plan events for the group. Some event organization will be needed. Please email Summer at sgill@uwmc.org if you plan on attending.

YLS is proud to announce our 2010 sponsor:

Thank you Brian Crossley and Telecom for supporting Young Leaders Society

What’s next at United Way? Tax preparation continues throughout the year...

United Way of Marion County will continue to offer FREE income tax preparation starting Monday, April 26 through October 15. Marion County residents who need their tax returns amended or need prior year taxes done from 2007 through 2009 can take advantage of the free assistance Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. through 2 p.m. at the United Way office. Please call 352-732-9696 to make an appointment. All volunteers providing tax assistance are trained by the Internal Revenue Service.

United Way needs volunteers for workshops United Way of Marion County is looking with volunteers who are interested in being facilitators for personal budgeting workshops. Trained facilitators use Money Smart, a FDIC curriculum. Training will be provided to all individuals along with instructors manual and materials. Facilitators will present to businesses and organizations who are interested in hosting classes for their employees or clients or members at their facility. For more information, contact Krista Martin at 732-9696 ext. 215 or kmartin@uwmc.org

National Letter Carriers Food Drive On Saturday, May 8 letter carriers throughout Marion County will pick up much more than the mail along their postal routes; they will also collect the goodness and compassion of their postal customers during the 18th annual National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) National Food Drive. This annual effort has become the largest one-day food drive in the nation's history, resulting in more than a half billion pounds of food to local food banks, pantries and shelters in all 50 states. Last year in Marion County, a record 184,000 pounds of nonperishable food was collected and donated to Interfaith Emergency Services for

distribution to the Salvation Army, Brothers Keeper, St. Theresa's Catholic Church and the Help Agency of the Forest food banks. The Ocala Post Office was ranked first in the nation in their union member category for the second year in a row for the community's outstanding effort in supporting this program. Postal customers are asked to hang a food donation on their mailbox before their letter carrier delivers the mail on Saturday, May 8, and the carrier will do the rest. Collection barrels will also be set up at all Post Office branches to accommodate those with Post Office Boxes. United Way of Marion County, USPS, America's Second Harvest, Campbell's Valpak and AFL-CIO have partnered with the NALC to help stamp out hunger.

“Breakfast with Leaders” In February, Florida’s Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) hosted the Young Leaders Society’s “Breakfast with Leaders” series. This quarterly session featured Admiral Tim Wright speaking about the work of IHMC and their choice to build a satellite office in Downtown Ocala. Florida’s Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC) is one of the nation’s leading research institutes with scientists and engineers investigating a broad range of topics related to understanding cognition in both

humans and machines. They are a nonprofit research institute of the State University System of Florida. Some of their most notable findings include more mobile and agile robots, their work with increasing movement for sol-diers with amputated limbs, and creating new technologies to be used in the NASA Landrover program. Check out their work at their website at www.ihmc.us and view videos of their work on You Tube. They picked Downtown Ocala because they see Ocala as a strong and growing community where they can continue their research efforts as well as have easy access to many of the neighboring universities. IHMC holds monthly lectures on various topics at their offices located on 15 SE Osceola Ave. The next public lecture will be Wednesday, May 5 by

Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ .Br. Guy's topic will be "God’s Mechanics: The Religious Life of Techies" Reception will start at 5:30 pm and the talk begin at 6:00 pm and will last for approximately a hour.  Seating is limited, so if you would like to attend e-mail, ocalaevents@ihmc.us or call 850-202-4406..    The Breakfast with Leaders series offers an intimate, comfortable setting for participants to engage with local CEOs and established business professionals. It is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for interacting closely with prominent leaders of Marion County’s business community.

Admiral Tim Wright speaks to Young Leaders about IHMC

Paul Skinner and Curtis Saylor

Christy Jergens and Allison Campbell

United Way’s VITA Program (free tax prep & filing) assisted more than 1,000 families, of which 827 returns were completed bringing $1,229,970 into Marion County for families. By having United Way

prepare taxes we were able to save $172,320 in tax preparation fees for Marion County citizens.

Visit us on the web www.uwmc.org and contact us at (352) 732-9696