To add a little friendly competition to this year’s food drive, the Heart of Illinois United encouraged local organizations to enter our “Can You Imagine” food drive structure/display contest.

The “Golden Can Awards” went to River City Construction for the “Weigh-A-Ton” category using 920 plus cans and boxes of food. The “With Flying Colors” category also went to River City Construction for their use of packaging and label colors for their “Baggin’ It Up” grocery bag demonstrating “Just imagine what this bag “CAN” do for our community!”. The “Variation on a Theme” award for their unique and creative theme went to South Side Strong, a collaboration between Crittenton Centers, FamilyCore, Common Place, Red Cross, Neighborhood House and Big Brothers Big Sisters, for their Converse Shoe demonstrating “Making an Impact One Step at a Time”. The “By Design” award went to Dewberry for their “Showing Our Colors” rainbow demonstrating a unique structure. And lastly, Farnsworth Group won the “You Really Like Me” category for the most likes and shares on United Way social media.

A very big thank you to PNC, our Day of Caring underwriter, and our food drive partners Federal Companies, Midwest Food Bank, WEEK-TV and WHOI-TV. Continue reading →

Since 1985, the Heart of Illinois United Way and IBM have recognized our community’s unsung heroes who spend countless hours working without fanfare to help others. Our annual Hoot Gibson award is presented in memory of Horace J. “Hoot” Gibson who was the manager of the Peoria IBM office for many years along with being an active volunteer for the United Way.

2018 Hoot Gibson honoree, Mike Bass

Whether it is for work or as a volunteer, our 2018 Hoot Gibson honoree, Mike Bass, is dedicated to serving nonprofit organizations and health care organizations. His responsibilities include delivery of tax compliance and planning advice to help clients achieve their business and personal objectives, as well as general advisory services. Serving on the Agency Financial Review Committee and the Heart of Illinois Homeless Continuum of Care, Bass ensures our partner agencies and continuum members are operating at the highest levels of financial health and governance. His many professional affiliations, credentials and community involvement includes the Illinois Society of Certified Public Accountants, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Vice President of the Central Illinois CPA Society Board, Illinois Central College Accounting Advisory Committee, and boys basketball coach for Union Mission in Pekin.