For over 20 years, Bernice Helman has served the United Way of the Wabash Valley, an organization dedicated to achieving community-wide change by improving the education, income and health of its residents. Her community was dealt a hard blow when a large pharmaceutical company left, taking with it jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate donations. Helman overcame the challenge through her tireless efforts, which included reaching out to solicit donations from rural counties that typically had only received donations, resulting in the United Way surpassing its fundraising goal of $1.8 million in 2012.