After completing back-to-back successful campaign seasons, the United Way of Elizabethton/Carter County is setting their sights a bit higher this year as they prepare to launch their annual fundraising bid.

On Thursday morning, local United Way officials announced this year’s campaign will have not one, but two chairs to help the agency continue their successful trend. The co-chairs are also part of a drive by the agency to encourage more involvement throughout the community.

“The theme this year is ‘United We Grow Our Community,’” said Crystal Carter, Community Impact Coordinator for UWECC. “We really wanted to put an emphasis on ways we can build up the community, and one of those ways is to take care of our next generation so they will get their education and they will stay in Carter County and work, stay in Carter County to live, and they will keep our community built up very strong.”

To help with that emphasis, Carter said the local United Way’s Board decided to name two Campaign Chairs for this season.

“One is very young, and the other is just a little older than that,” Carter said.

The first campaign chair is Sadie Whitehead, a 2018 graduate of Elizabethton High School who will be attending the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to study communications. Whitehead was also the recipient of the United Way of Elizabethton/Carter County’s $500 Living United Scholarship and Internship this summer and just completed that internship with the agency.

In addition to her work with United Way, Whitehead was part of the Bartleby program at Elizabethton High School, worked with the Boys & Girls Club of Elizabethton/Carter County this summer, and has been heavily involved in her community in many other ways.

“We chose her because we felt she exemplified what we want the youngsters of this community to be because we know she is going to do great things and she is going to return to Carter County when she gets through with her education,” Carter said of Whitehead.

Whitehead said she is excited for the opportunity to help United Way.

“I’ve always just felt a responsibility to my community,” she said. “I learned a long time ago that if you see something you don’t like or that needs to be fixed in your community you should do what you can to change it.”

The second campaign chair is Jessica Bitner, who is employed in the radiology field with Ballad Healthcare. In addition to her work for the hospital system, Bitner has been involved in several programs in the community, including serving as secretary for the Carter County Community Advisory Board. Bitner is also the founder of One World Everybody Eats – Elizabethton, a nonprofit whose mission is to help address the issue of hunger in the local community.

“She’s one of those people who works tirelessly, but she’s not one of those people in the forefront so you don’t hear her name a lot,” Carter said of Bitner. “Choosing her was a rather easy decision because she is that example to young women like Sadie that says I see a need in our community and I’m going to do everything I can to put all my effort into solving this to make Carter County a better place.”

The kick-off for this year’s United Way of Elizabethton/Carter County fundraising campaign will be held on September 6 with breakfast beginning at 7:30 a.m. and the kickoff to follow. The goal for this year’s campaign is $130,000, which is up slightly from last year’s target mark.

Carter said the agency decided to host the kick-off event at the Elizabethton Senior Center, which is one of the local agencies supported through UWECC, to help spotlight the Center and the service it provides to the community.

“It has been a very rough year for them with the budget crisis the county has had,” Carter said. “They are one of those smaller agencies that receive a majority of their funding from the city, the county, and United Way.”