United Way honors campaign contributors

EVERETT — Senior Aerospace Absolute Manufacturing in Arlington almost doubled its contributions last year to the United Way of Snohomish County campaign, tripling the number of employees who donated as well as tripling the size of its corporate gift.

Several employees of the company live in Darrington, which made choosing the company’s Days of Caring project at the Darrington Community Center an easy decision.

That’s why Senior Aerospace Absolute Manufacturing was chosen for the United Way’s President’s Award given on Thursday night. Trina Massingale of the company also won one of the Employee Campaign Manager of the Year awards.

One of the company’s employees, production manager Peter Hilker, made a challenge that caught the attention of the United Way staff, said Dennis G. Smith, president and CEO of United Way of Snohomish County.

“If they raised $900, he promised to shave his head into a Mohawk and if they raised $1,000 he’d dye it pink. They raised $1,013 and you can see what happened,” said Smith pointing to a picture of Hilker with his hair-do.

Also at the event, Premera Blue Cross’ CEO Jeff Roe won the Executive of the Year Award. Roe, who could not attend on Thursday night, replaced Premera’s former CEO Gubby Barlow last year. He joined United Way’s Tocqueville Society for donors who give more than $10,000 and the United Way board of directors.

Premera in Mountlake Terrace set a record for largest workplace campaign in 2013. The company broke that record last year by raising $645,000.

Several hundred people attended the dinner at Comcast Arena’s Edward D. Hansen Conference Center that celebrates the close of United Way’s 2014 Community Caring Campaign.

The Community Caring Campaign is United Way’s single biggest source of revenue each year. The campaign includes contributions from the various United Way campaigns at businesses, nonprofits and individuals, the Combined Federal Campaign and the Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound.

The money raised for the campaign is given to 107 programs that help people focusing on education, financial stability and healthy communities. More than 13,000 individuals and 300 workplaces contributed to last year’s campaign.

The Labor Partnership Award went to the coalition of groups involved in the Marysville School District campaign. They put their United Way campaign on hold temporarily after the shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School last October but decided that one way to help the community move forward was to come together and finish the campaign.

The Best New Campaign Award went to Umbra Cuscinetti, an Everett aerospace company. They reached 20 percent participation in their first year, matched all employee gifts 100 percent, sponsored the Aerospace Golf Scramble and raised money for United Way’s Disaster Recovery Fund.

The largest single contributions come in the form of grants from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound ($1.86 million) and The Boeing Company ($725,000).

Platinum event sponsors included AT&T and The Boeing Company. Premier event sponsors included The Everett Clinic, Jamco America, Inc. and Union Bank. Presenting sponsors included Fluke Corporation, Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, Puget Sound Energy and Tulalip Resort Casino. Media and in-kind sponsors included The Daily Herald, Microsoft, GoodSide Studio and Stadium Flowers.

United Way of Snohomish County will be celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2015. Josh O’Connor, the publisher of The Herald and Larry Hanson, publisher emeritus, will co-chair United Way’s 2015 campaign.

Here is a full list of award winners:

President’s Award

Senior Aerospace Absolute Manufacturing

Executive of the Year Award

Jeff Roe of Premera Blue Cross

Employee Campaign Manager of the Year Awards

Debbie Beaman, Kimberly Rashid and Dena Searcy of Comcast

Heidi Burgi and Trista Fure of Community Health Center of Snohomish County

Trina Massingale of Senior Aerospace Absolute Manufacturing

Britta Schwendtke of The Arc of Snohomish County

Diane Broderick from The Bank of Washington

Premier Partner Award

The Boeing Company

Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound

Labor Partnership Award

Marysville School District Campaign Team

LIVE UNITED Award

Jamco America, Inc.

Positive Change Award

Pandora Jewelry

Best New Campaign

Umbra Cuscinetti, Inc.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.