Wow, what a week!   I came to the United Way Community Leaders Conference to learn, share and grow with those that we fight alongside each day - fighting for the health, education and financial stability of every person in every community.  But I also came with another purpose, to celebrate 30 years of service given to United Way by our teammates, Beth Terry, Chief Transformation Officer [retired] and Gail Dixon, Accounts Payable Coordinator.

Urban dictionary defines mom as "The woman who loves you unconditionally from birth, the one who puts her kids before herself and the one who you can always count on above everyone else. Just telling her your problems makes you feel better because moms always know how to make it all go away.  Even if you fight, know that she's just looking out for your best interests."  Mom: what an amazing role to play, and often it's a role that is thankless and goes unnoticed.

We’re wrapping up a week of thanks and acknowledgement to all of our incredible volunteers during National Volunteer week. We have asked our social media followers to share their United Way Volunteering stories for a chance to win a pair of tickets to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and we’re happy to announce our winner!

Ken Johnston with LOOP, LLC shares his experience below:

Yesterday evening members of our community gathered at the Governor's Mansion in Baton Rouge to celebrate a successful first year of United Way of Southeast Louisiana's

Benjamin Franklin High School takes home the 2017 Mission Ignition Crown this year with 1,143 hours of community service! This marks the 3rd time in 5 years that Benjamin Franklin High School has won this award, totaling an estimated $116,000 value in service hours to the community overall.

The Office of Governor John Bel Edwards in partnership with United Way of Southeast Louisiana hosted the 2017 Equal Pay Summit at the Shaw Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, March 10th.  UWSELA Chief Operating Officer, Charmaine Caccioppi, serves as Chair of Governor Edwards' Louisiana Women's Policy and Research Commission while Kim Sport, UWSELA Public Policy Chair served as the co-chair of the Equal Pay Summit. 

Young professionals from Pan American Life Insurance, Shell, Enterprise Holdings and more gathered last week for our Young Leader’s Movement (YLM) "Lunch and Learn" at the Law Office of Morris Bart.