Each year, we host the Employee Campaign Awards to recognize the donors and leaders who work hard to make employee campaigns successful at their workplaces. For the 2014 Employee Campaign Awards event last Friday, we added a new, very important award: Employee Campaign Leader of the Year. Employee campaign leaders are vital to the success of every employee giving campaign for United Way. We look forward to highlighting an outstanding “ECL” each year moving forward, and this year the very first award of this kind goes to Laura Seaton of Travis County.
“It is a warm knowing that despite your own life trials and dramas, and we all have them, you have given something of yourself that truly has helped another human being feel a little whole again and a little less lost.”
— Laura Seaton
Laura Seaton lived and worked in public service for Maui County, but circumstances brought her to Austin, Texas where she started working in public service with Travis County in 2010. Laura participated in the United Way for Greater Austin campaign three years in row, and goes above and beyond carrying the message to every employee in her department, Transportation and Natural Resources, and across the county as an ECL. Laura takes her responsibility of being an ECL very seriously. She implements rigorous best practices, personalizes the campaign so each employee feels more connected and does it all with a smile.
Laura was assigned to be an ECL, yet she loves the role. When asked why she loves it, she replied:
“It is a challenge to inspire people to care about contributing to others. I really believe that people are not selfish; they just have not been fortunate enough to be able to feel how giving back feels. It is an almost indescribable feeling: it is not pride, it is not joy, it is not accomplishment. It is a warm knowing that despite your own life trials and dramas, and we all have them, you have given something of yourself that truly has helped another human being feel a little whole again and a little less lost.”
Laura’s own words show best why we selected her to be the 2014 Employee Campaign Leader of the Year. Congrats, Laura, and thank you for all you do for UWATX!
You too can make a difference in your community by giving back through your workplace. Learn more about becoming one of our corporate partners or what it takes to be an ECL.