FRANKLIN TWP — The United Way of Butler County recognized a family, a young adult and two brothers as Heroes of Hope at its award ceremony Wednesday night at The Atrium.

The United Way, which gave out the awards for the fourth time, chose three inspirational stories from nominations made by its partner agencies, executive director Kierston Hobaugh said.

“The ones that the agencies nominate and send to us are really life-changing success stories,” Hobaugh said.

This year’s honorees are Gregory and John Carpenter of Mars, the Gonzalez family of Butler and Chance Harms-Robinson of New Wilmington, Lawrence County.

Gregory, 20, and John, 14, were nominated by Community Care Connections.

In the past year, the two brothers have stepped up to help around their house while their father, Gregory, is being treated for stomach cancer.

“It’s opened our eyes. We’re just living each day,” their mother Peggy said in a video prepared for the awards ceremony.

Antonio and Marisol Gonzalez, along with their children who are 3 and 5, moved to Butler from Puerto Rico in April. They wanted to get a new start after Antonio’s aunt was shot and killed in their home in Puerto Rico.

They were nominated for the award by the Lighthouse Foundation, which helped them get settled and start their lives here.

Since moving to Butler, Antonio and Marisol both have gotten jobs. Marisol has begun working on a GED certificate, and their children are attending preschool and learning English.

The third honoree is Chance Harms-Robinson, 17, who was nominated by Glade Run Lutheran Services.

Chance had trouble controlling his emotions as a child and spent a year and a half living on the Glade Run campus in Zelienople when he was 10.

This fall he will be a senior at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Academy.

His grandfather, Clarence Harms, said Chance used to be very combative and would go from “zero to 10” being angry, but has improved greatly.

“He has learned to go from zero to three, he has managed to take care of some of his feelings,” Harms said.

The United Way’s 2014-15 campaign wrapped up on June 30, and it plans to kick off its 2015-16 campaign with an event on Sept. 2, Hobaugh said.

Also Wednesday night, the United Way handed out annual awards given to businesses and agencies for significant donations to its fundraising campaign.

The Live United Awards of Excellence recipients for the 2014-15 campaign are:

Manufacturing: Calumet-Penreco

Banking/finance: NexTier Bank

Education: Butler County Community College

Services: Butler Eagle — Eagle Printing Co. and UPS

Retail: Target Corp.

Nonprofit: Lifesteps

Small Business: Baglier Buick GMC Mazda

Professional Firms: C.W. Howard Insurance Agency and Murrin, Taylor, Flach, Gallagher & May law firm

The United Way Pacesetter award recipients, acknowledging performance in specific categories, were:

Greatest Per-capita Giving: Murrin, Taylor, Flach, Gallagher & May

100 percent Employee Participation: C.W. Howard Insurance Agency, Mental Health Association, Moraine Trails Council of Boy Scouts of America, Murrin, Taylor, Flach, Gallagher & May, and the United Way of Butler County

Outstanding Labor Campaign: Peoples TWP

Volunteer of the Year: Jo Ann Rickerd.