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JOHNSON CITY — United Way of East Tennessee Highlands will host their annual campaign kickoff event as scheduled on August 5, but President and CEO Leslie Salling says they are changing things up a bit to keep everyone better protected from the rising COVID numbers in the area.

“We love sharing our mission and getting all the supporters together to build excitement for our campaign, but we value the health of our community above everything, so we will have an event that keeps in line with the best safety practices for all.”

Salling says that this will now be a drop-in style event. It will still take place at the same location (the tented area of the parking lot behind HomeTrust Bank on 1907 North Roan St. The time has been extended and will now be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

For those that RSVP’d to the event, lunch will still be available from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. It will feature food from Project BBQ with cookies from DoubleTree Hotel. Those wishing to still grab lunch can pick it up to-go and use socially distanced stations set up for the impact project. 

“We will be putting together care packages for families who are staying at the hospital with a loved one. The kits feature essentials that someone leaving their home for an emergency doesn’t have time to grab. We are so fortunate that our community provided lots of items for these bags. We hope these kits can help families in our area and help relieve a bit of the burden from our health care workers,” says Salling.

Among those that donated are City of Johnson City, DoubleTree Hotel, Crown Labs, Second Harvest Food Bank, East TN Insurance, Northeast Community Credit Union, Sturgill Orthodontics, and United Way Board of Directors.
 
The event is sponsored by Truist, Kim and Keith Holley, the United Way Board of Directors, and in-kind donations.
 
For more information about the kickoff and the campaign please contact Leslie Salling at 423-220-1229.