LULING — The United Way of St. Charles announced at their Victory Celebration, they are approximately $2,000 over what they raised this same time last year.

“To date, United Way of St. Charles has raised a total of $2,172,961, which is approximately 90 percent of our $2.4 million goal. While we are not predicting to reach our goal, we are currently $2,000 ahead of where we were last year at this time,” stated Taryn Miller, UWSC Campaign & Marketing Committee chairperson.

The Victory Celebration, held at Ormond Plantation, announced the success of United Way of St. Charles Annual Campaign and recognized companies with success in their workplace campaigns.

“United Way of St. Charles is excited that in such a turbulent economy, it is looking like we will raise as much, if not more, than we did in 2010. We would like to thank all the local industry, businesses and individuals for their hard work in making this campaign a success. You all should be very proud,” Miller said as she addressed the audience of company leaders and campaign coordinators.

Companies such as OxyChem, Valero St. Charles Refinery, Norco Manufacturing Complex, Monsanto, Cytec, Entergy Waterford 3, ADM and Dow received top honors for success in campaign improvement, employee per capita giving, corporate giving, percent participation and leadership giving.

Valero was awarded the highest honor receiving the UWSC Spirit Award, which recognizes the best overall United Way campaign.