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Happy New Year!
2025 has already gotten off to a great and exciting start at Black River United Way! Just 17 days into the new year, we’ve added two new members to our team - Camilla Robinson, joining us as a new member of our Board of Directors; and Ali Hartman, our new Director of Community Initiatives!
Camilla Robinson is a Financial Sales Representative at South State Bank. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in Finance from Frances Marion University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management from Phoenix University. Camilla has been in banking for over 16 years and has served on numerous Georgetown County nonprofit boards including Service Over Self and Optimism Mentoring and Preventative Services. She is passionate about impacting our community and contributing her time and talents to assist wherever possible. Help us welcome Camilla!
Ali Hartman joined our team this week as our new Director of Community Initiatives, Ali will be working to advance our Community Resiliency efforts and lead our volunteer recruitment and engagement. From our Be Ready! Disaster Preparedness Program to events like Day of Caring and United To Read, you can expect to see and hear a lot more from her in the coming months. Help us welcome Ali (ahartman@blackriveruw.org)!
Also new to our team is Lauren Brown, Vice President and Commercial Bank Relationship Manager at Bank of America who joined our Board in November. Lauren is a graduate of the University of South Carolina (2016) with a double major in Finance & Marketing and a Minor in Retail. She began her career with Bank of America in Greenville as a Financial Center Operations Manager and later held Treasurer Officer and Analyst Roles. In 2022, she married and moved to Georgetown, continuing with Bank of America in Middle Market Commercial Banking. Lauren is passionate about improving Georgetown and Williamsburg Counties’ quality of life on goal at a time. She and her husband Thomas, welcomed their first child this month. Congratulations, Lauren and Thomas!
In addition to new team members, our Board of Directors elected new officers for 2025-2027. Ross Marple (President of BEC Construction), our previous Chair-Elect, is now our Chairman. Jessica Reed (Engineer III at Santee Cooper), our previous Secretary is now our Chair-Elect. Mauretta Wilson (Town Administrator for the Town of Andrews) has been elected as Secretary. We'd like to give a special thanks to our outgoing Board Chairwoman, Nicole Dingle, for her leadership of Black River United Way's Board of Directors in 2023-2025. Thank you, Nicole, for your service and contributions to help Georgetown and Williamsburg Counties thrive!
As we look ahead to the future, we remain committed to our mission and bold goals. These goals are to ensure that:
1. Children in our community enter kindergarten ready (Mission:Ready).
2. 90% of children are reading successfully by the end of the third grade in 2031 (Mission:Read).
3. Our community is prepared for and able to recover from disaster (Disaster Resiliency).
We have some exciting and ambitious strategies and targets for the new year as we expand our impact and stay the course to achieve these bold goals. These strategies and targets can be summarized as our 2025 Game Plan. Check out the game plan to learn more our strategies for the bold golds, and plans to advance them in 2025.
We’re excited to share our plans with you as we know that without the accountability and support of our community, these goals will only exist on paper. I would encourage you to follow the journey, and most importantly, to get involved, give back, and take action. By volunteering, donating, and sharing your voice, you can ensure that Black River United Way not only meets these goals but exceeds them! To those who have already done so through their pledges, gifts of time, dollars, and partnership - thank you!
I believe (and I know) that together, we can change the reality of kindergarten readiness, third-grade reading success, and disaster resiliency in Georgetown and Williamsburg Counties. In 2025 and beyond, let’s create a future that we can all be proud of - for ourselves, our children, and our community.
United is the Way,
Yolanda McCray
President & CEO
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