The Volunteer United Celebration, featuring Miss Tennessee (Hanna Robison) will be held April 12, at 6 p.m. at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. Volunteer Night at the Lookouts will be held April 14 at 7:15 p.m. Tickets for both can be purchased at www.UnitedWayCHA.org until Friday. United Way apologizes for any confusion this may have caused.
The Volunteer Center presents six service awards to volunteer champions who were exemplary in how they gave of themselves to this community in 2015.
Almost 50 individuals, families and organizations were nominated this year, an all-time high. These nominations come from a wide variety of nonprofit organizations from across the state. Volunteer of the Year Awards will be given in the following areas: Youth & Education, Community, Health & Environment, Young Volunteer, Family Volunteerism and Corporate.
Robison will be this year's keynote speaker. She was crowned Miss Tennessee on June 20, 2015, and as the current crown holder, she serves as Gov. Bill Haslam's official spokeswoman for character education and travels more than 80,000 miles speaking to 50,000 schoolchildren about the character education trait of responsibility.
Throughout her travels, Robison also serves as Tennessee's goodwill ambassador for the five Children's Miracle Network hospitals across the state, including T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital at Erlanger here in Chattanooga. She also holds positions as an Arthritis Foundation ambassador and as Volunteer Tennessee's honorary board chair.
Jed Mescon, WRCB-TV morning show anchor and newly appointed vice president of marketing and development at Erlanger hospital, will serve as master of ceremonies.
Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased by calling 423-752-0316 or online at www.UWchatt.org/VolunteerCelebration. Sponsorship tables are available for $300 and include seating for eight with sponsor name displayed on the table and in the program. The deadline to purchase tickets is April 8.
The celebration is also sponsored by Warren & Griffin and the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Call United Way at 423-752-0316 for more information on how to become involved in the community, or visit the web site at www.iHelpChattanooga.org.