The BIG raffle drawing to determine the winner of the Harley Davidson Road King was held on Friday at John Eye Big Sandy Superstore. The winner of the cycle was Mr. & Mrs. A.H. Dunlap of Crab Orchard. Charlie Sedlock of Fayetteville was the winner of the ring from Jewelry Quest and Dale Crookshanks of Rupert won $3,000 in cash! Congratulations to the winners and our thanks to all who purchased tickets!

The raffle helped us raise funds for The United Way of Southern West Virginia. Thanks to David Chinn and staff at John Eye Big Sandy Superstore for selling tickets and hosting the event, Ryan’s for providing great food, Food Lion of Sophia for a delicious celebration cake, and the Beckley Wal-Mart for providing sandwiches. Also we appreciate Charlie Cole at Cole Harley Davidson for drawing the winners for us and supporting our efforts. We look forward to another raffle next year!

We appreciate your generous support in the campaign that we just completed. Thankfully, we made our goal of $325,000.

To the many contributors, the businesses that support us, and the many volunteers we say a big heartfelt thanks.

I have asked Linda Lugar, the executive director of The United Way of Southern West Virginia, to add her comments on the final installment of this weekly column:

“In light of the disasters that occurred in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and other gulf areas, the 2006 fund-raising campaign of the United Way got off to a late start. We really thought we would not be able to make our goal and were making plans to deal with less funding than we needed to support our 30 agencies in Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas and Summers counties. However, we are thrilled to be able to report that we did, indeed, raise the necessary funds to support the services offered by our agencies. We want to thank every single contributor for their generosity which enables the United Way to fund agencies that provide services which will improve the lives of many people in southern West Virginia. You have made a difference in the lives of others as well as your own!”

My hat is off to Linda Lugar and the great staff at The United Way of Southern West Virginia. In addition to Linda, the executive assistant is Anna Lester; Mary Bragg is a volunteer helper; and Mary Justice also helped during campaign. They do an outstanding job not just during the campaign, but all year long.

The media really get the word out about The United Way! The Register-Herald, WOAY-TV 4, WVNS-TV 59, and WVVA-TV 6 along with all the radio stations of Southern Communications Corporation — 103CIR, Power Country 105.9, Groovy 94, The River 102.3 FM, WWNR News/Talk 620, and WJLS AM/FM have been helpful in this campaign. Their publicity is invaluable to make all this happen.

Here’s one example of the difference your donation can make:

“The United Way of Southern WV has been our salvation for our home-delivered meals program. It has allowed us to provide meals for seniors who otherwise would not have a warm meal. We depend on the funding from the United Way to be able to continue and expand this program which is a much needed service for many seniors. Thanks to all the donors who make it possible for the United Way to fund agencies who have provided over 80,000 instances of service last year.”

Those comments are from Jack Tanner, executive director of the Raleigh County Commission on Aging.

On behalf of The United Way of Southern West Virginia thank you for helping us reach our goal and making this a successful campaign season!

— United Way of Southern West Virginia campaign chairman Jay Quesenberry is general manager of Southern Communications Corp.