The local United Way’s 89th annual meeting and awards celebration will be held a couple of months earlier than recent years, but a month later than its original date.

“We’re kind of going back to the future,” said Doug Lineberger, executive director of the United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties.

Either way, the March 19 event is a first: It will be a luncheon, instead of being held in the evening.

“We’re trying to be more user friendly,” Lineberger said.

The event still marks the time when United Way honors the volunteer leaders in its midst — an admittedly hard task.

“There is not a shortage of United Way leadership,” Lineberger said. “We’re just blessed to have good leadership.”

This year’s annual meeting comes a couple of months before the end of the 2012 campaign, and the three-county United Way finds itself at 96 percent of its overall goal, Lineberger said.

“We’re very pleased at this point to be at 96 percent,” he said.

The Clark County campaign’s goal is set at $1.23 million, with Champaign County at $230,000 and Madison County at $90,000.

Three awards will be given out at the event on March 19. Two volunteers will receive the President’s Award, and a St. Paris company that supplies automotive components to Honda will be honored with the Morrey Shifman Spirit of United Way Award.

The recipients

Brett Moorshead: The manager of the UPS hub on Leffel Lane will be honored with a President’s Award.

Under Moorshead’s leadership, United Way participation at UPS has increased annually, Lineberger said.

“At any company, it starts at the head,” Lineberger said. “He’s been our United Way cheerleader at UPS.”

Moorshead also helps United Way make funding decisions by serving on Clark County’s Stable Healthy Families Impact Group, which considers funds for health-related services.

Laura Toops: The human resources manager at Stanley Electric in Madison County also will receive a President’s Award.

“She’s another one of our volunteers that when we ask her, she says, ‘Yes, I’ll be happy to,’ ” Lineberger said.

Toops chaired Madison County’s Stable Healthy Families Impact Group for two years.

KTH Parts Industries: The Champaign County company will receive the Morrey Shifman Spirit of United Way Award.

“It’s not the size of the company, it’s the spirit,” Lineberger said of the award criteria.

Last year, Lineberger said, KTH developed a free community dinner on site that drew more than 100 people.

“They’re always looking at ways to serve the community,” he said.