TAUW awards top supporters and volunteers during its annual Live United Awards and Luncheon. Numerous companies, organizations, and individuals received awards during the annual event before more than 800 guests at the Cox Business Center. A virtual option was also offered.
TAUW celebrated the success of its 2021 fundraising campaign, which raised $25,493,060, exceeding its goal by nearly $123,000.
“Tens of thousands of donors came together giving a little of their paycheck each month to make our community a better place to live,” said Tim Lyons, President and CEO, TTCU Federal Credit Union, who co-chaired the campaign with Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith. “That, along with the amazing support from the corporate community, individual donors, area foundations, and more than 8,000 volunteers, demonstrated how the power of living united is present in one of America’s most generous cities.” Lyons is now serving as the 2022 TAUW board chair.
Sponsors of the event included TTCU Federal Credit Union, WeStreet Credit Union, and ONEOK, Inc.
QuikTrip Corporation received the United Way’s Groundbreaker Award for conducting the only employee campaign over $2 million. This is the sixth year QuikTrip has achieved this level.
Major supporters included Bank of Oklahoma and Williams, each receiving the Visionary Award for support of more than $1.5 million each. ONEOK received the Cornerstone Award for raising more than $1 million, and George Kaiser Family Foundation, Magellan Midstream Partners, LP, and ONE Gas were honored for campaigns and contributions above $500,000.
The Williams Summit Leadership Award was given to QuikTrip Corporation.
Other primary award recipients were: Bank of Oklahoma, Leadership Giving Award; Global Gardens, Illuminate Award; Omni Air Transport, Ignite Award; Harrison Energy Partners, Momentum Award; Capital Advisors and Schnake Turnbo Frank, Small Business Awards.
Also, Jim Norton Toyota, Mid-Size Business Award; OG&E – Sapulpa, Green Country Business Award; BKD, LLP, GableGotwals and Vast Bank, Innovator Awards.
The Community Spirit Award was given to all healthcare and public school systems that ran United Way campaigns. These entities and individuals were honored for serving our community’s most vulnerable while giving more of themselves, their time, and their financial resources.
The United Way’s prestigious award for an individual went to Marla Bradshaw, who received the Clydella Hentschel Award for Women in Leadership.
Best of the Best awards for companies and organizations that experienced overall campaign growth, a high level of employee participation, and high per-capita giving included: American Residential Group, AmeriTrust Corporation, Asemio, BancFirst Insurance Services, Inc., Bank of Oklahoma, BDO USA, LLP, BKD, LLP, Budco, City of Tulsa including the Auditor and Mayor’s Offices, Community Bank – Bristow, Crowe & Dunlevy, D&L Oil Tools, First Oklahoma Bank, Frederic Dorwart Lawyers, PLLC, Gateway First Bank, Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma, Greenheck, Harrison Energy Partners, Heidi Hartman Consulting, Hilti, Housing Solutions, HUB International Mid-America, George Kaiser Family Foundation, Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation, Mental Health Association Oklahoma, Morse & Co., PLLC, Neosource, Inc., OG&E – Sapulpa, Omni Air International, Omni Air Transport, Pipestem and Nagle Law, QuikTrip Corporation Corporate, Distribution and Division, Ramsey Industries, Inc., Regent Financial Services, Inc., Sand Springs Community Services, Schnake Turnbo Frank, TSHA, Inc., Tulsa Area United Way, Tulsa County including Board of Commissioners, Early Settlement Center for Mediation and Human Resources, Tulsa New Holland, Tulsa Public Schools Office of the Superintendent, Williams, World Travel Services, LLC, Youth Services of Creek County, and Zarrow Family Office.
Other awards included Caring Companies, Awards of Gold, Excellence, Silver, Bronze, and Achievement.
Contributions by these companies, organizations, and their employees and individuals are being invested this year in Tulsa Area United Way’s 59 partner agencies, seven community collaboration initiatives, and five innovation projects.
Details on all awards presented may be found at awards.tauw.org.