Callabyte Technology, a local internet provider, has donated $13,128 to the Callaway County United Way to celebrate Callabyte's Charitable Campaign.
The Callaway County United Way is a local non-profit that partners with 11 local organizations in the community that serve "the most vulnerable" residents in Callaway County, according to its website.
The Callabyte Charitable Campaign is a branch of Callabyte Technology aimed at supporting local organizations.
Last year, it raised $3,800 for SERVE, Inc, a local soup kitchen, according to Callabyte Technology Facebook page.
"We're a local provider, so we want to try to take care of the people we serve," said Clay Carroll, Manager of Member Services for Callabyte Technology.
Callabyte Technology raised funds for this year's donation by entering current subscribers into a 6-piece Arlo camera system drawing, if they donated toward the United Way. It raised $203 through subscriber participation.
For each new subscriber that signed up for Callabyte in July, Callabyte would also donate $25 towards the United Way and offer free internet for a month for the participant. It had 117 new sign-ups, resulting in $2,925 raised.
The provider also partnered with CoBank. When Callabyte Technology donated $5,000 to the organization, CoBank matched its donation, resulting in an additional $5,000.
Since the United Way serves many organizations, this was the easiest way for Callabyte Technology to serve as many people as possible, said Carroll.
"We'd like to do campaigns with all of our local organizations, but there are only so many months in the year, so we felt the United Way is the most efficient way to kind of focus the money and energy," said Carroll.
The provider plans to make donating to United Way an annual event, Carroll said.
"You can tell that Callabyte is an organization that really cares about giving back to their community and we feel united with them in our mission to help improve the lives of all our Callaway County residents," said Laura Berg, Executive Director of the Callaway County United Way.