“Joe” Dickey Electric strongly believes in giving back to the community. More proof is on the wall of the new volunteer center for United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley in Boardman.
A sign of appreciation hangs above the warehouse entrance inside the building. A ribbon cutting was held on August 8 for the 12,000-square-foot facility on Market Street.
Dickey Electric’s involvement goes beyond turning on the power.
“I joined the United Way’s board of directors in 2022. We were already looking for property or an existing building then and trying to figure everything out,” said Eric Carlson, president of Dickey Electric.
A partner in the process
United Way president Bob Hannon said Carlson’s knowledge was paramount in bringing the project to fruition.
“Without Eric, we wouldn’t be here. He was there every step of the way – helping us with contractors, vendors, things that were way out of my wheelhouse. He has an expertise that we didn’t have on staff, and he took that off my shoulders.”
United Way has outgrown its headquarters on Watt Street in downtown Youngstown. Specifically, it needed more storage space for the Satur-Day of Caring, which is the third Saturday of each month.
“Dickey Electric has been involved with United Way for more than five years. A couple of our electricians then started helping with Satur-Day of Caring,” Carlson said. “We’ve used our truck to help move materials and food, and that just got us even more involved.”
Reasons for the volunteer center
The initiative is the vision of Ed Muransky, of Muransky Companies. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, he contacted Hannon to ask what the community was doing to help deliver groceries to people in need.
“The following weekend, we distributed to 50 families and had eight volunteer drivers. The plan was to do it for eight Saturdays,” Hannon said. “By then, we had 100 families, and we knew there would be a need after Covid. We’re up to 460 families now, and we have 80 drivers.”
Before getting the new center, volunteers were organizing outside Southwoods Health.
“This valley needed a place to do this. United Way’s downtown office was completely filled with stuff. There was just physically not enough space for volunteers to work and be out of the weather, too,” Carlson said.
From start to finish, work on the center took just under nine months. The nearly 9,000-square-foot warehouse can hold large donations, including items that need to be kept cold, and there’s room for packing food ahead of the Satur-Day of Caring.
What about funding?
Construction of the building was funded by a $1.5 million federal grant secured through U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown. It’s named after the James and Coralie Centofanti Charitable Foundation – which donated $1 million to cover operating expenses for the next decade.
Along with other organizations that contributed to the center, Dickey Electric’s significant donation is something the company didn’t think twice about doing.
“We’ve always been giving back to the community,” said Dave Dickey, CEO, “Joe” Dickey Electric. “The last few years, Eric became involved with United Way, and that became one of his passions. Now, it’s the passion of our employees, so it just makes me proud to see us give back to such a great organization.”
A community resource
The center will also be open for use by other agencies – not just the United Way.
“We want the next generation to come here. We see it being used by high school students, even the American Red Cross, for blood drives and babysitter training. We want it to be a community volunteer center,” Hannon said.
However, he stressed the importance of keeping United Way’s headquarters in downtown Youngstown.
Carlson remains on the board of directors after he and his wife, Bethany, served as the 2023 campaign co-chairs. They were able to help bring in a record $3.7 million.
“Our valley should be very proud, grateful and thankful for the hard work that takes place through the United Way. It takes time and investment from everyone to support so many children and families. They’re the future, and this center is that investment.”
Dickey Electric is a member contractor of NECA-IBEW Electricians, an association consisting of IBEW Local 64 in Youngstown, IBEW Local 573 in Warren and signatory electrical contractors throughout the Mahoning Valley.