The United Way of Highway 55 believes that all our neighbors deserve a chance to succeed and live a vibrant life here at home. For everyone to have a fair chance to succeed, we support four areas that build a good quality of life and a strong community – education, income, health, and basic essentials. United Way of Hwy 55 raises funds from a variety of individuals and businesses, pooling donated resources so we can make significant grants to nonprofit agencies in Coffee, Moore, and Warren Counties. All funds raised here stay here.
STUFF THE BUS 2024
In addition to allocating funds to local nonprofits, United Way of Hwy 55 hosts community engagement projects. “Stuff the Bus” is a yearly project that calls businesses and individuals in our community to collect school supplies and deliver them to a centralized location to fill the bus full of school supplies. Those supplies are then organized, packaged, and delivered to each Tullahoma City School (JTF, REL, Bel-Aire, West Middle, East Middle, THS, East Lincoln, TVA) for teachers and faculty to fill needs. Ashley Abraham, Executive Director of United Way of Hwy 55, states, “When we say community project, that’s what it takes. A community that comes together to fill and support needs, which improves the quality of life around us. Our community has a huge heart for service and giving back. Every year, it is incredible to see the support businesses, churches, organizations, and individuals give to improving our community and the lives in it. Thank you to all who made this year’s “Stuff the Bus” a success!” “Stuff the Bus” was located at Chick-fil-A in Tullahoma in partnership with their Charity Car Cruise-in on July 9th. Abraham continues by saying, “I was excited when Kelleye Watts, Executive Marketing Director at Chick-fil-A, reached out to me with this idea, which we quickly made into a plan of action. We really appreciate Chick-fil-A for inviting us to their Charity Car Cruise-in and creating an even bigger event and excitement around “Stuff the Bus”!” Thanks to many in the community, “Stuff the Bus” collected close to 20,000 school supply items from pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, crayons to paper, folders, binders, backpacks, headphones, and hygiene items. Special thank you to:
· Imagination Library of Coffee Co
· Tullahoma Area Chamber of Commerce
· Chick-fil-A (Tullahoma)
· SmartBank
· Coffee Co Health Dept
· Coffee County Bank
· Kings Cross Church
· Trinity Lutheran Church
· First Christian Church
· FirstBank
· Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital
· Vanderbilt Integrated Internal Medicine - Jackson
· Vanderbilt Integrated Internal Medicine - Cedar
· Vanderbilt Integrated Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine
· Vanderbilt Integrated Urology - Tullahoma
· Vanderbilt Integrated Center for Women's Health – Tullahoma
· Vanderbilt Integrated Pediatrics - Tullahoma
· Parkview Senior Living
· Experience Community Church
· TUA
· US Bank
· Century 21 Coffee County Realty & Auction
· Results Physiotherapy
· First Franklin Financial
· Newell Brands
· Dot Foods
· TitleMax-Tullahoma
· US Display
· 93.9 The Duck, Rooster 101.5, and Whiskey Country 105.1 & 95.9
Thank you to the volunteers and coordinators: Kelleye Watts (Chick-fil-A), Dr. Catherine Stephens (TCS Superintendent), Mr. Travis Moore (JTF Principal), Rev Tom Murdock (First Christian Church), Clark Bussell, Pam Bussell, Rikki Tucker (FirstBank), Christine Jones and Kings Cross volunteers, Rob Homerding, Bertha Smith, Ashley Franklin, Skip Willmore, Tiffany Merchant (The Salvation Army-Tullahoma), Norman Zhang, Jenny Orr (Weichert Realtors-Joe Orr & Associates), Sharon Nelius, and many more. Abraham states, “It takes a village, and we are so thankful to each person who helped make this a smooth process. If I missed mentioning some that helped, please know you are appreciated, and we could not have done it without you!” Abraham continues by saying, “In addition to school supplies, Experience Community Church-Tullahoma presented a $2,000 check to go towards school supplies. We appreciate Pastor Joe Thompson and his incredible team for helping fill in the supply needs we lacked. Thank you to our great community for uniting to support local teachers and kids so they may begin the school year feeling prepared and confident.”
To learn more about United Way of Highway 55 and how to get involved or donate, go to highway55unitedway.org or email Ashley Abraham at Director@highway55unitedway.org.
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