Women United's Annual Power of the Purse Fundraiser took place on May 10 at the Woodward Opera House. This event is one of the biggest fundraising events of the year for United Way of Knox County, and 2019 proved to be our biggest year yet!

The event featured a silent purse auction, a raffle, and a live designer purse auction, which were all modeled by male models with their own unique twist for each bag.

Women United and United Way would like to thank everyone who volunteered their time and energy to make this event so successful, including the auctioneers at Jagger Auctioneers, our guest emcee Brock Evans, all of our sponsors and contributors (a full list is available through our event program by request), and all of our models and servers, our dedicated co-chairs Patty Workman and Erica Taylor, and everyone who attended this event and pledged their support to women in Knox County.

Following the success of the event, Women United is pleased with the ability to invest $50,000 into programming in Knox County. Complete the Women United Grant Application to be considered for funding for a project to take place between August 2019 to August 2020. 

Grant applications must include the name of a supporting Women United member to be considered. The Women United Founders Council will review all grant applications and make funding recommendations to the United Way of Knox County Board of Directors for final approval. Applications are being accepted now through July 4, 2019. To access the online application, visit this link.  For more information, please email [email protected] or call 740.397.5721

To learn more about Women United or to become a member, contact [email protected]

Harmony Park 

United Way was a proud contributor to the new Harmony Park inclusive playground. Since the ribbon cutting on April 25, we are happy to see children of all abilities utilizing the park to play together in harmony.

Kids at the Park Day!

Kids at the Park Day is a national initiative started by the National Parks Trust and encourages park use and family engagement. The aim of the day is to get kids and families physically active, exploring, and caring for their local, state, and national parks. 

We celebrated the day at Ariel-Foundation Park on Saturday, May 18. 21 agencies, businesses, groups, or organizations were represented. Kids had the change to be physically active, learn bike safety, eat a real bug, talk with MTVarts characters from Wizard of Oz, learn about soil erosion, plant seeds, investigate ants, and much much more! 

Our United Way was there sharing  5-2-1-0 healthy living information, offering healthy snacks, and giving away some fun prizes - like our 5-2-1-0 water bottles and portion plates which teach about proper portion sizes.

An estimated 350-400 people participated in the day. We look forward to returning to the park all summer and to the event again next year!

Edible Knox

United Way is partnering with OSU Extension SNAP Ed, Get Healthy Knox County, and the local Food Council to support Edible Knox. 

As the 2019 Season Sponsor, United Way is helping equip sites with the planters, potting soil, and plants that will be maintained by local organizations. The Edible Knox project, promotes community engagement, and makes  healthy food and recipes available to anyone in our community. Contact   Tanner of OSU Extension for more information or to inquire about starting an Edible Knox garden at your organization.