On Thursday, May 12, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas invited supporters and partners to gather at The Star in Frisco for a very important celebration: our 97th Annual Celebration and Unite Forever Campaign Awards, where we recognized the incredible community impact made by North Texas companies, volunteers, donors and partners.
This was the first time the annual event has been held since 2019, and we were delighted to welcome more than 800 guests for an evening of gratitude, celebration and recognition.
Read on to get the highlights of the night’s awards and big announcements:
Award Recipients
- J. Erik Jonsson Award: Ed Galante
- Public Service Award: Dr. Froswa’ Booker-Drew
- Community Leader Award: Taylor Toynes, For Oak Cliff
- Emerging Leader Award: Tyler Riddell and Adam Torma (Emerging Leaders Co-Chairs)
- Education Award: Roxanne Pittman
- Income Award: Lancaster ISD
- Health Award: Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty
- Give Award: Debbie McComas, Haynes and Boone
- Advocate Award: Rev. Gerald Britt
- Volunteer Award: Tina Morefield, AT&T and United Way Teens United
Unite Forever Campaign
In addition to our traditional annual awards, this year’s event also included a celebration of the close of our Unite Forever campaign, United Way’s first $100 million endowment campaign. Launched seven years ago, the goal of the campaign is to create a financial foundation that will benefit generations of North Texans in the years and decades to come. The $100 million campaign has now been met three years ahead of the 10-year goal.
As Jennifer Sampson, McDermott-Templeton President and CEO of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, explained, “On May 12, we celebrated the incredible fact that our annual campaigns over the last three years, along with the Unite Forever endowment campaign, have secured almost $300 million to drive measurable impact in education, income and health. These resources make a lasting difference in the lives of over 1.3 million North Texans every single year.”
Event Replay
Thank you to everyone who helped make this an unforgettable evening. We invite our volunteers, friends and supporters who were not able to attend to view the full event recording here:
