The United Way of West Central Mississippi hosted on Wednesday what the organization hopes will be an annual show of appreciation to the community.

“This is our first year to do it, but I hope that it will be an annual event,” executive director Michelle Connelly said.

“We’d love to do it again. We had a really great time. This is a great way that everyone could get involved with the community,” Kristen Meehan, director of marketing and community relations said.

Themed The Campaign Show Featuring The United Way, the event featured cheerleaders from all four local high schools and offered free beverage huggies and pompoms.

“We just want to thank everyone in our community for being active supporters of the United Way and to celebrate our community,” Connelly said.

Meehan said they were prepared for 100 people, but they exceeded that by more than 50.

“There were over 150 people in attendance and there were about 16 cheerleaders in total,” she said.

Meehan said they wanted to increase participation and let the people of the community experience the United Way in a fun way.

“We’re raising funds for our 22 partner agencies. We take the money from campaigns and that helps fund 34 programs,” Meehan said.

Connelly said the pep rally would give the community an opportunity to become more involved in the program.

“I think it’s a great way to celebrate our partner agencies. We need to celebrate those things more often,” she said.

Connelly said the preparations began the night before with the cheerleaders coming to the United Way to practice their cheer.

“That was an amazing time,” Connelly said. “All of the girls got to meet each other and share their passion for cheering. It was great for coming together and that’s what I intended this to be about.”