Bruggeman, who recently retired from the Middletown United Way to spend more time with her family, was named the 2014 Volunteer of the Year during the agency’s annual report and awards meeting at the Middletown Area Senior Citizens Center.
As Bruggeman walked to the podium to receive her award, her husband, Dave, and some of her family entered the room through a side door.
Later Bruggeman said: “They got me. I had no idea.”
Terry Sherrer, executive director of the local United Way, has been there to present three Volunteer of the Year awards and he said: “This one is special.”
He was shocked the agency pulled off the surprise because Bruggeman “knows everything.”
After the meeting, he was asked what Bruggeman meant and continues to mean to the United Way.
“Ginger is the living poster child of the United Way,” he said. “When you are talking about ‘Living United,’ that’s what Ginger is all about. Every year she just proved her worth. She brought so much credibility and she brought so many people, not just donors but volunteers together. She helped make United Way what is is today in Middletown.”
Bruggeman said those volunteers seeds were planted early by her parents. The oldest of 10 children, she lost her mother, Patricia Lolli, 30 years ago, and her father, Frank A. Lolli, four years ago.
“It doesn’t quit because you retire,” she said. “They always told me to do things for people, to ‘pay it forward.’ They didn’t have a saying for it back then.”
AK Steel wins honor
AK Steel Corp. received the Dwight Smith Heart of the Community Award after its employees and executive team donated $963,866, or 59 percent, of the total $1,630,300 that was raised during the United Way campaign. Dan Picard, who co-chaired the campaign for the second straight year with Tammi Thompson, said AK Steel President and CEO James Wainscott was a driving force behind the success of the campaign.
Wainscott chaired the Cincinnati United Way campaign and helped raise $61.5 million. Of that, $950,000 came from AK Steel, a 90-percent increase in donations from 2013.
Kirk Reich, senior vice president of manufacturing, said AK Steel was “a proud member of the community.”
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