2025 Year in Review

A Great Year for the Shawano Area United Way

This year has been an outstanding one for our United Way. As we finish up, we want to highlight all the great things we accomplished. Please enjoy our 2025 year in review.

Programs

This year, we continued our three main programs for the community and started planning to expand and add new ones. With help from United Way of Wisconsin, United Way of the Fox Cities, and NWTC Shawano, we also introduced a new program. Here are some highlights from 2025:

  • The Born Learning Trails at Eberlein and Kuckuk Parks in Shawano turned 10 years old. We plan to update the activities on the sidewalks soon.
  • The Snuggled with a Hug Diaper Bank helped more families than ever, providing free diapers and wipes to over 150 Shawano County infants.
  • Our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites in Shawano, Pulaski, and Gillett helped more than 300 people file their taxes for free, bringing over $500,000 back into the community.
  • We launched Techquity WI in our area, giving 22 NWTC Shawano students, mostly adult learners, loaned laptops at no cost to support their education.

  • We started the Shawano Area Food Coalition to help fight food insecurity. This group brings together organizations to share ideas and resources. The coalition will keep meeting through 2026 and beyond.

    Born Learning Trail Sign

Nonprofit Support

We’re proud of our history supporting Shawano’s nonprofits, especially those working in health, education, and income. This year, we kept up our financial support and found new ways to help. Highlights from 2025 include:

  • Passed $200,000 in total funds given to local agencies since 2020.
  • Hosted the first Connections for Change event to encourage volunteering.
  • Launched our Volunteer Opportunities database and helped match businesses with ways to volunteer.

  • Started quarterly nonprofit events for networking and learning. One event helped a partner agency win a hard-to-get grant for growing their services.

    Grant Education Event Facilitators

Organizational and General Accomplishments

Besides our main programs, we also reached some other big goals this year. Here are a few behind-the-scenes achievements worth sharing:

  • We added 5 new board members, nearly doubling the board. This shows how much our organization is growing as we look toward the future.
  • For the first time, we hosted Music Bingo at our Campaign Kickoff. The event was a big hit and the most successful kickoff in five years.

  • We received several grants to help us do more for the community, including support from the AbbyBank, CoVantage Cares, and Green Bay Packers Foundations for the Diaper Bank. The 100+ Women Who Care of Shawano County also gave great support.

    2025 United Way Board of Directors

Looking Ahead

Looking to 2026, we are very thankful for all the support we received in 2025 and the growth it made possible. We want to keep this momentum going into next year. Here are some of our goals:

  • Help more families in rural areas through the Snuggled with a Hug Diaper Bank.
  • Distribute 150 devices through Techquity WI by working with new partners in Shawano and Menominee Counties.
  • Set new goals for the Food Coalition, starting with our January meeting.
  • And more to come!

Thank you for your support this year! Here’s to many more years together. United is the way!

Solid Red