ELKHART — Thanks in part to efforts by Goshen firefighters, the city of Goshen was honored Thursday by the United Way for raising the most monetary donations for a recent countywide food drive sponsored by postal workers. The city was also honored for raising the most food donations per capita.

The theme was “Superheroes” and the tone was one of hope for the future at the United Way’s annual awards luncheon at the Matterhorn restaurant.

Goshen was joined in its “Golden Egg” award category by the city of Elkhart, which raised the most food in the food drive. The drive is sponsored each year by the National Association of Letter Carriers.

Patty Morgan, Goshen’s human resources manager, accepted the “most food per capita” on behalf of the city. She also accepted the “most money” Golden Egg award on behalf of Jeremy Mast, president of the Goshen Firefighters Local 1443.

Mast explained that after an e-mail was sent out by Morgan asking for help with the food drive, a donor offered to match the amount of money the firefighters union could raise (up to $500) for the cause.

“This is a person who has been a good friend to the firefighters and has supported us in a lot of different ways,” Mast said of the donor, who wished to remain anonymous. “Each member of the department donated a variety of amounts,” Mast said. “Everybody got involved and pitched in. This was a 100 percent effort by firefighters from Goshen to make this happen. We happened to be lucky enough to have someone who wanted to be part of it to put out a challenge.”

Live United awards

The “Live United” awards went to United States Postal workers Mike Keim, Goshen branch, and Mike Cataldo, Elkhart, for their work on the food drive. The National Association of Letter Carriers sponsors the food drive each year. This year’s drive garnered more than 144,000 pounds of food in one day for local food pantries, which was a 77 percent increase over last year’s donations, according to Pam Hluchota, the event’s master of ceremonies. The inaugural Live United award is given to individuals, “who through team work, going above and beyond the call of duty and through determination, have improved the lives of people in Elkhart County.”

Top volunteer

Carla Darr, Elkhart Community Schools, received the Arthur J. Decio Volunteer of the Year Award for her coordination of a free evening tutoring program at Mary Daly Elementary School. Darr also coordinated the first United Way Daly Reading Camp, which utilized 100 community volunteers to help children improve their reading skills. Darr received the award from its namesake, Art Decio.

Honored with special comic book-style awards, were campaign volunteers, Alex Strati, Old National Bank; Doug Johnston, Goshen Community Bank; Dan Morrison, Heritage Financial; Dan Oakley, Chase Bank; and Phil Penn, Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce.

Executives of the year

In years past, one executive director of the agencies served by the United Way is singled out and honored as Executive Director of the Year. This year, Peter Norton of United Cancer Services, presented the award — with a twist. Every single agency director was given the Director of the Year award in honor of their perseverance in the down economy.

Donation

Bill Burton of 1st Source Bank, presented the United Way with $1,450 from a fund-raising campaign within the bank. Ten dollars from each new checking account opened was donated to the United Ways in the 15 regions served by the bank. A total of $14,000 was raised, Burton said.

Campaign and the future

The annual United Way campaign to date (it’s about 58 percent complete) has raised $1.1 million. The campaign ends Nov. 20, and companies who increased their fund-raising efforts or whose fund-raising doubled, will be honored after the campaign ends.

Alex Strati, campaign chairman, said the support of everyone in attendance and the successes the campaign has seen thus far is indicative of the spirit of Elkhart County.

“I wish we could package this and show it to the world,” Strati said. “Elkhart County has always done this. When times are tough, we don’t look to others to help out. We do it ourselves. I’m proud to be part of Elkhart County.”

Keynote speaker Jack Cittadine talked about the historic recoveries the United States has made from the past 47 recessions or depressions he researched.

He said despite Elkhart being a “poster child” for the recession in the national media, there are examples of businesses surviving and adapting and of positive things happening in the community.

“We are not going to sit on our hands and complain and do nothing,” Cittadine said. “That’s not what we have ever done.”

He predicted that in 10 years the community will look back on this recession and understand that we came out of it, “smarter, better and stronger.”