Univest Corporation on Monday announced Vets for Vets as the winner of the second annual “Caring for the Community Giveaway,” a contest that awards $5,000 to a local, nonprofit organization.

        Groups were nominated for the prize through the Univest Facebook page. Of the nearly 10,000 votes submitted for 95 organizations over the course of the contest, Vets for Vets, of Pennsburg, received the most posts on its behalf, earning the group the $5,000 prize. Vets for Vets’ mission is to support veterans during their readjustment from military to civilian life by providing transitional housing as well as educational and employment opportunities.

        “We are honored and excited to be the winner of Univest’s ‘Caring for Community Giveway.’ With the recent renovation of our transitional housing in Pennsburg, the $5,000 could not have come at a better time,” said Jason Leone, staff sergeant in the United States Air Force National Guard and founder of Vets for Vets. “We are grateful to the community and our Facebook family for rallying around this contest.”

        “We were thrilled with the overwhelming response we received for the ‘Caring for Community Giveaway’ again this year,” said Kim Detwiler, senior vice president and director of corporate communications at Univest. “Vets for Vets is a truly deserving organization and we really valued hearing directly from the local community which organizations are in need of support.”

        Through its Committed to Local program, Univest’s total support to the community in 2013 was more than $1 million and Univest employees volunteered more than 16,700 hours. If registered 501(c)(3) organizations are interested in applying for support from Univest’s Committed to Local program, applications and giving guidelines can be found online at univest.net/ctl.