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Youngkin bags groceries for United Way of Southwest Virginia fundraiser, cites aligned priorities

November 23, 2021

United Way of Southwest Virginia’s annual Celebrity Bagging fundraiser got a boost from Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin, who spent an hour bagging groceries at the Abingdon, Va., Food City store.

The fundraiser helps support programs including early childhood education initiatives and education-business collaborations, both of which Youngkin says he prioritizes.

“We can bring businesses in and those businesses can tell us what skill sets they want in the folks graduating from our high schools,” Youngkin said “Then we can partner with our local community colleges – and we have some fabulous ones in Southwest Virginia – who can then help with credentials for folks coming right out of high school.

“And, I believe there is a real opportunity in early childhood education to enable our children to be better prepared for kindergarten. I’ve visited some really innovative early childhood education opportunities, and again, businesses want this in their communities because they need a workforce that’s reliable for a long time.”

Food City opens its doors to United Way organizations in Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama for an annual fundraiser the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. United Way of Southwest Virginia benefits from events at 12 stores from Pennington Gap in the west to Pulaski in the east.

United Way of Southwest Virginia recruits teams of four to six volunteers in each community to take hour-long shifts bagging groceries. Any tips the volunteers receive are donated to United Way of Southwest Virginia to support its work in an area that covers around 20 percent of the Commonwealth.

Youngkin said he was happy “to stand up for United Way,” adding that he appreciates United Way of Southwest Virginia’s cradle-to-career approach. “This is all about making sure that Virginians have an opportunity from the minute they come into this world to actually live their dreams.”

For more information visit unitedwayswva.org.

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