Eighty years is a long time to keep showing up for your neighbors, and Heart of Missouri United Way is marking the milestone with a party instead of a plaque.
The nonprofit, which mobilizes donations and volunteers across Boone, Cooper, and Howard counties — Rocheport’s home turf and then some — is throwing an “80 Year Celebration” on Thursday, Aug. 6, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 3711 Discovery Parkway in Columbia. It’s going full 1980s for the occasion: live music, signature drinks, a short program, and a cornhole tournament, with ASL interpreters on hand throughout. Organizers are calling it family-friendly, and tickets are being handled through Eventbrite via the event listing.
United Way’s pitch to the region has always been the same one it’s making at 80: pull businesses, neighbors, nonprofits, and civic partners into the same room and point them at the same problems. In a three-county coverage area that stretches from river towns to county seats, that kind of connective tissue is easy to take for granted until you need it — a fact this desk runs into often when it goes looking for who’s already doing the work of Help & Assistance coverage.
Eight decades of anything is worth a toast on its own. But an anniversary party that’s also a cornhole tournament is a pretty good reminder that the people behind the spreadsheets and the grant applications are still, first and foremost, neighbors throwing a block party. If you’ve ever benefited from a program United Way helped fund — or just want to see Columbia’s civic set in eighties gear — the RSVP link is on the event page.
Readers who want to know more about what the organization funds year-round, or who want to get involved beyond one Thursday evening in August, can reach the Heart of Missouri United Way office at (573) 443-4523 or find them at 105 East Ash Street, Suite 300, in Columbia.