For the City Times

United Way of Portage County will celebrate the end of the 2017 campaign at its annual Victory Celebration Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 4 p.m. at SentryWorld in Stevens Point.

The public is invited to attend the free event where TRAVEL UNITED Sweepstakes finalists will win one of three prizes and where the results of the 2017 United Way of Portage County campaign will be unveiled. Pre-registration is not required, and beverages and appetizers will be available.

The finalists of this year’s TRAVEL UNITED Sweepstakes will be present to test their luck – each vying for the chance to win this year’s Grand Prize, a 2017 Ford F-150 XL Super Cab 4×4 donated by Scaffidi Motors. Other prizes include an air travel package donated by Simplicity Credit Union and Old National Bank and an HDTV, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Virtual Reality unit donated by Skyward.

Event emcee Steve Martin will invite the finalists on stage during a “game show”-like presentation.

This year’s Campaign Drive Chairs – the Blenker family of Blenker Companies in Amherst – will be on hand at the Victory Celebration to talk about their experience leading the campaign. In addition, United Way of Portage County Executive Director Sue Wilcox and Stevens Society Co-Chairs Marg Coker-Nelson and Tina Peters will thank the many individuals and organizations that helped with this year’s campaign.

Results of the United Way campaign, which ran from Aug. 11 to Nov. 17, will be unveiled throughout the program. This year’s campaign had a goal of $2.85 million. Those funds are distributed to 31 local programs focused on education, health, income, and community basics.

United Way of Portage County’s mission is to bring people and resources together to achieve measurable results that improve people’s lives and strengthen the community. To learn more, visit www.unitedwaypoco.org.