On Friday night United Way of Central Kansas made its annual poster presentation in Great Bend during the half time of the Great Bend High School football game with Liberal. This project has been a long-standing event for UWCK and is one that is highly anticipated each year. 

In the spring, the UWCK executive director goes to talk to the fifth graders about United Way, UWCK Executive Director Gaila Demel said. The students learn what United Way does, the programs it supports, what they can do, and more about volunteering and being involved in their community. 

They are then each asked to design a poster reflecting what they learned and incorporating the UWCK Campaign Theme for the upcoming year. This year the theme was “Racing for a Cause.”

A panel of neutral community members looks at all the posters to pick the ones they feel most reflect the theme and the cause. These posters are then presented to local community members and businesses who have been instrumental in supporting UWCK.

The poster contest winners for the 2018 Campaign were Eva Ramierez, Park Elementary School; Avery Leech, Eisenhower Elementary; Brissa Maria Caro, Riley Elementary; Kenzie Premer, Jefferson Elementary; Addy Nicholson and Alex Omenski, Holy Family School; and Kambra Rae Bell, Central Kansas Christian Academy. 

The posters were presented to: Benefit Management LLC and First Kansas Bank for their sponsorship support and Workplace Campaign donations; Harper Camperland, Great Bend Tribune, and Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers for their support of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library; Immediate Intervention Program- Casey Rowland as a Community Partner; and Eric and Tiffany Schoendaler as 2018 Campaign Co-chairs. 

“Congratulations to all the winners of the poster contest and thank you to our amazing community supporters who help us to reach our community commitment each year,” Demel said.