NASCAR driver helps United Way kick off campaign

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

Some 80 Smyth County United Way board members, supporters, and funded agency representatives gathered Monday to kick off a new campaign, announce the campaign’s goal, and hear NASCAR driver Eric McClure’s message that changing intangibles can produce concrete changes.
With a noon luncheon at Riverfront Restaurant in Chilhowie, the gathering started the 2010-11 fund-raising campaign with a $190,000 goal.
McClure, a native of Chilhowie and graduate of its high school and nearby Emory & Henry College, admitted to having little knowledge of United Way when he was invited to speak at the gathering. But learning about United Way, he said, showed him a similarity between its fund raising and professional racing: both rely on teamwork, he said.
While NASCAR culture focuses on the drivers who are in the spotlight when their cars run well, McClure said it’s the behind-the-scenes people, the teams’ owner and crews, that deserve the credit.
“It’s important for everyone to move in the same direction,” he said. And while a team can have the same car and driver, adjusting intangibles like fostering a sense of unity, team spirit and trust can produce new outcomes.
He said he “came to understand it’s not all about me. My career is a platform for me to help others,” McClure said. “I’ve tried to use my situation to help as many people as possible.”
He urged the people in the room to “work together, but most of all, stay motivated.”
The United Way comes into its own race fresh off a strong win last year when it surpassed its goal by 5 percent, raising $195,334 in a campaign that had a goal of $185,000.
In July the organization allocated available funding to 32 human service organizations, but Executive Director Rhiannon Powers said those applicants represented an increase from the previous year in the number of agencies seeking funding. While the 2009 campaign goal was met, the funding requests “far exceeded the amount available to allocate to agencies,” Powers said.

dkegley@wythenews.com