A Hopkinsville couple — each recently retired from high profile careers — will chair the United Way of the Pennyrile’s 2026-27 campaign.
Amy and Derrick Watson were introduced Monday as the organization’s next leaders for the fundraising effort. Amy retired in late 2024 as a morning anchor for NewsChannel 5, the CBS affiliate in Nashville, Tennessee. Derrick retired at the end of 2025 at president and CEO of Hopkinsville Water Environment Authority.
Taking a nod from their careers, the campaign theme will be “Making Headlines, Making a Difference.”
The announcement comes just a few months following the end of a successful campaign for 2025-26, which raised $800,292 in donations and pledges, officials announced on Feb. 10. The goal had been $715,000.
Work on the new campaign begins in July, and the traditional campaign kick-off breakfast is planned on Sept. 3 at the Senior Citizens Center.
United Way of the Pennyrile provides funding for more than a dozen nonprofit organizations in Christian, Todd and Trigg counties. Those are:
- Aaron McNeil House
- Armed Services YMCA
- Boys & Girls Club of Hopkinsville
- Christian County Literacy Council
- Christian County Rescue Team
- Christian County Youth Services Advisory Board
- Dyslexia Association of the Pennyrile
- Hopkinsville Family YMCA
- Kentucky Legal Aid
- Pennyrile Children’s Advocacy Center
- Pennyrile Allied Community Services — Retired Seniors Volunteer Program, and Home Delivered Meals
- Sanctuary Inc.
- Salvation Army
- Trace Industries
Melanie Noffsinger is executive director of the local United Way.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
