By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — Whirlpool made a generous donation to the Darke County United Way (DCUW) Wednesday.

It takes a community to help support a community, and Whirlpool employees have worked hard to raise funds to donate for only a year. Their hard work and dedication paid off because The United Way was able to receive a donation of $458,476.74 from this strict volunteer based group.

“We have our team of volunteers donating part of their salaries, and we do a lot of initiatives around the plant as well to help raise money,” Renato Esteves Whirlpool Manufacturing Plant Lead said.

He says the team is creative finding new and fun ways to raise the donations. The team has sold flowers, hosted a walk-a-thon, and even sold their own products to staff members.

“By the end, we were able to raise over $221,000, just with the initiative here in the plant,” Esteves said. “Whirlpool then matched the effort that was put into place to make this donation to United Way.”

Members of Whirlpool raised $15,000 by competing in a walking challenge alone. Esteves said they had space on the company grounds to walk if needed, and by completing the challenge, it was a way to not only give to the community, but it was a way “to do something good for themselves too.”

In addition to the payroll deductions and fundraising, Whirlpool had a retiree donate a generous sum of over $17,000 to the cause as well.

“I just want to say how grateful we are,” DCUW Executive Director Becca Cotterman said. “You guys (Whirlpool) make us about 50 percent of our campaign, so this is vital. We just appreciate the ongoing partnership, you knocked it out of the park, and there truly aren’t enough words. Thank you.”

With 15,000 people in Darke County utilizing the DCUW agencies, Whirlpool is able to give back and impact and help the community in a positive way. Whirlpool and Esteves’s team were told they are helping Darke County from the top level on down, as it starts with the supervisors and managers, to the workers, and on down to the community.

“It truly is a community serving a community,” Cotterman said.

This donation will be utilized within the DCUW 2024 Calendar year for health, education, and stability within each of their agencies: after school programming, mentoring, cancer associations, safe haven, etc. All of the agencies the United Way donates to will undergo an extensive allocation process and interview with a board for approval in order to ensure they are being “good stewards of the money.”

“It all goes right back into the Darke County Community. There is a misconception that this donation goes to United Way Corporate and gets funneled out, and it is not the case,” Gavin Glasco said.

Whirlpool would like to give a giant thank you to the employees for their hard work and dedication because “if wasn’t for them supporting all the event, Whirlpool wouldn’t be able to support United Way that they do.”

“An equal thank you from the United Way as well,” Cotterman said. “We have several campaigns in the community, and Whirlpool is our largest. It’s a community serving another community that we are so grateful for because we couldn’t do it without them.”

As one of the larger presence here in Darke County, Whirlpool feels like they naturally have a responsibility to serve this community and give back just as much.

To learn more about the Darke County United Way visit their website at www.darkecountyunitedway.org/ or follow them on Facebook at Darke County United Way, Inc.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].