June 29, 2023
BY JOHN BAILEY
Serving the homeless, youth, senior citizens and marginalized communities.
These were the goals of the local non-profits who applied for the Catawba County United Way’s inaugural Small Businesses Love Big (SBLB) grant cycle, which concluded earlier this month.
“Being able to support organizations in our county who give back to people of all ages and learning about their work was important,” Brooke Padgett from The Gardner Group and SBLB grant committee member said.
“There were so many non-profits out there that I learned about and I’m thankful to be able to help them help the community.”
Small Businesses Love Big is an opportunity for small companies in Catawba County (50 employees or less) to invest back into their communities by supporting local non-profit programs.
Each participating company contributes $365 a year, which is used to help fund this new Catawba County United Way allocation process focused on local small and start-up non-profits.
Catawba County United Way Executive Director Mark Bumgarner said it made perfect sense to bring small businesses and small non-profits together.
“This one is really exciting to me. We knew we didn’t have much outreach to our small businesses, and we know they are the backbone of our community as are non-profits,” Bumgarner said. “Collectively we can work to look at issues in our community and how we go about the business of making our community better.”
The SBLB grant committee recommended and the Catawba County United Way Board approved a total of $30,000 in allocations for the first year of this initiative.
The first group of non-profits receiving SBLB grants include 10 local agencies: The Corner Table, Catawba County Council on Aging, Family Care Center, Hart Square Foundation Inc., Catawba County Juntos 4-H, Neigbors Network Inc., OUTright Youth, Rising Hope Farms Inc., Serving Our Seniors, Volunteer Outreach in Community Efforts.
The Catawba County United Way thanks the representatives from this year’s Small Businesses Love Big grant cycle who were able to be part of the review committee: Jennifer Samson, Seven Seed Soap Co.; Cynda Bollinger, Catawba Valley Insurance and Padgett.
In total, 28 local small businesses joined SBLB in its first year.
They include: Keever’s Key and Repair Service, Inc., Carolina Crafted Candles & Bath, Lifetime Eyecare Optometry, Lockman’s Body Shop, The Finest Website for Gas Pumps, Hickory Real Estate Group, Tar Heel Wealth Management, Catawba Valley Insurance Agency, First Choice Realty, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Carolina Insurance, Broome Insurance, John L. Hyatt, DDS MS, CertaPro Painters, The Garner Group, Moss-Marlow Building Co. Inc., Morgan Law, PLLC, Seven Seed Soap Co., The Hen & Egg, Chalfant Painting, American Fire & Security, VIP Laundry – Conover, A Signco, Countryside Pet Hospital, RLI – CPA Certified Public Accountants, Animal Hospital North, Emerald Health Direct Primary Care and Homefield Athletics.
“I look forward to us continuing to do this, bringing in small businesses together with small and start-up non-profits to help them grow together…to not only boost our community but solve the issues we face,” Bumgarner said.
Learn more at this link - https://www.ccunitedway.com/small-businesses-love-big.