As the newest member of the United Way of West Central Mississippi’s staff, Kami May sees herself as a bridge, a link between the community, partnering agencies, those in need and those in the organization’s office.

“I like to say United Way is a puzzle piece to the community,” May said. “We’re bridging a lot of gaps and building a lot of puzzles to connect people with the organizations they need.”

After interning this summer with the United Way, May, the organization’s new director of marketing and community relations, began her position July 25 and works to coordinate and produce marketing material for the United Way along with updating its website and social media platforms, which include Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.

“We’re not only marketing the United Way but our 21 partner agencies as well,” said May, who graduated from Warren Central High School and the University of Louisiana at Monroe with a major in communication and a concentration in community advocacy. “Part of the challenge—and part of the fun—majoring in advocacy and being in this position, I’m not only an advocate for the United Way but our partners.”

May is charged with designing and printing all promotional materials, including flyers, press releases and posters, for the organization, and with its 2016 fundraising campaign kicking off in September with the True Color Run, May said she has spent most of her time preparing fundraising packets and promotional material for the run.

“We print and design everything besides our donor booklet in house,” she said.

Though designing print material keeps her busy, May said she helped her former position holder, Tyler McNeal, with a redesign of the organization’s website and the addition of Snapchat, a social media platform that allows users to share photos and video for set amounts of time.

“We’re not connecting the gap to the younger generation,” May said of her reason for the online additions and updates.

Most of the United Way’s volunteers are retired or court-appointed, she said, so their Snapchat, unitedwayvburg, and the online updates are a way to get younger generations more involved.

To promote their updated website and the kick-off of their fundraising, May said the organization will be doing an online scavenger hunt beginning Wednesday that encourages the community to get connected through social media, where the clues can be found.

The scavenger hunt answers will only be available on their website.

“We’ll be doing some free giveaways. The answers you will have to find on our website. It’s not going to be something you can Google or your mom would know,” she said.

Prizes, including color run sunglasses, headband and perhaps even tickets, will be given away throughout the month before the True Color Run, May said.