Alexis Hocevar, philanthropist, entrepreneur, volunteer and recently retired Vice President/General Manager of Enterprise Holdings, Inc. is the 2016 recipient of United Way of Southeast Louisiana’s Alexis de Tocqueville Award. He was honored November 2 at the Tocqueville Award Celebration held at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. View the photo gallery here.
Each year, the Tocqueville Society, comprised of philanthropic leaders who donate a minimum of $10,000 annually to United Way, presents its highest award for exemplary leadership in volunteerism and philanthropy to an outstanding community champion. Hocevar is well known and well respected within the transportation industry and in the community by the nonprofits he supports.
The Brother Martin High School and University of New Orleans graduate started at Enterprise in 1985 as a management trainee and worked his way up through the ranks to hold the top position in the region. Hocevar says he had many goals throughout his career and achieved most of them including early retirement. He can now spend more time with his family, explore new ventures and be more involved in philanthropy.
His charitable service includes membership on numerous boards of directors of business associations as well as nonprofit organizations. Hocevar has served as both United Way Campaign Chair and Board Chair.
The Award Celebration was filled with special announcements and acknowledgements. Prominent business and civic leaders Paulette and Frank Stewart, Dathel and John Georges and a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, were recognized for their generosity and becoming the newest members of United Way’s Million Dollar Roundtable—joining the first two United Way million dollar donors Robert Merrick and David Fennelly. This year's Tocqueville Chair, Ms. Florence Schornstein, was the recipient of the award in 1998.
Entergy was Presenting Sponsor of the Tocqueville event. Other philanthropic community sponsors included: Peoples Health, Enterprise Holdings, Latter & Blum, the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, First NBC Bank, David Fennelly and Carlos Sanchez, and a very generous anonymous donor.
The Tocqueville Society is integral to helping United Way realize our our goal of eradicating poverty in Southeast Louisiana. Our Blueprint for Prosperity lays out the framework of how we can create equitable communities where all individuals are healthy, educated and economically stable. We invite you to join us.
42% of our Southeast Louisiana population struggle every day to meet basic needs. 19% live in poverty. 23% are 'ALICE' - an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. They are hard-working, tax-paying people living paycheck to paycheck who are just one medical emergency, one car repair or one harsh storm away from poverty.
Thousands of our already financially challenged residents were affected by the August flooding and United Way is helping them to recover. We had people on the ground before the rain stopped falling and created a space on our website to begin collecting critical funding. All together we raised over $1.1 million dollars; collected and distributed over $1.4 million in much needed supplies; and provided the opportunity for volunteers to spend 1,700+ hours helping their neighbors.
With the help of community leaders like Alexis Hocevar, United Way of Southeast Louisiana is strategically investing in programs, initiatives, collaborations and advocacy efforts to meet the greatest needs in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington Parishes. This year we are funding 78 programs in 54 agencies. In addition, we are hard at work developing our own programs focused on issues like financial literacy, early grade reading and preparing our youth for jobs.