There is still time to give to United Way
COSHOCTON – With a month or so to go before the United Way closes its 2016-2017 campaign, it has received about 80 percent of the pledges it hopes to receive. Most work place campaigns have finished up and appeal letters have gone out to area professionals, retirees and farmers. But director Lyn Mizer has not lost hope and wants the community to know that they have not stopped trying to bring in a few more pledges so that the 53 partner programs that are supported by the United Way of Coshocton will have what they need to carry on their programming.
“It is not too late to give! Even if we close our campaign, we can still attribute monies that come in for this campaign until we allocate them out in 2018.” The United Way of Coshocton is on a three year cycle where in year one they make the ask for the pledges, in year two they collect on those pledges then the third year they allocate them out. It is because of this three year cycle that the United Way is just now feeling the loss of West Rock. Last year the Coshocton Foundation made a sizeable donation to help fill the void felt by the loss of WestRock. Those dollars will be allocated out this spring of 2017. The importance of this campaign cannot be understated as the UW looks for new revenue to fill the gap.
The annual UW campaign kicks off with the Taste of Coshocton in August. It then divides the drive into sections of industrial, public employees, agri-business, retail, professionals, retirees, special gifts and schools with each section having its own goal. The division chairs work very hard to get out the information, make the ask, write letters, run extra fundraisers, in order to make the goal. Currently agribusiness is at 70 percent of its goal, industrial is at 89 percent, professional 62 percent, public employees 94 percent, retail 82 percent, retirees 65 percent, schools 78 percent and special gifts is currently at 75 percent of its division goal.
Even though many of the divisions have not made their goal yet, many workplace campaigns have seen a real upswing. McWane employees contributed $10,000 more this year, Kraft is up $5,000 and AK is up by $4,000.
The United Way of Coshocton not only supports 18 local agencies with 53 programs, but they also fund several community initiatives through grant dollars. Those include the Imagination Library that is currently sending free books monthly to more than 900 Coshocton children, 2-1-1 (free phone number to call anytime to hear about the services and programs offered here), Free tax prep program (call 295-7563 in January to set up your appointment), and the newest is Crunch for Health where every fourth grade student in the county will be receiving a free exercise ball to use in their PE classes and eventually take home.
When a donation is received by the United Way, more than .98 of every dollar stays right here in Coshocton County. With so many wonderful programs, how are you supposed to pick and choose which one needs your support most? With United Way you don’t have to choose because every donation will support 18 different local non-profit agencies providing 53 different programs maintaining and growing the health of Coshoctonians.
If you would like to give, call 740-622-4567 or send to P.O. Box 84, Coshocton, Ohio 43812.
Category: Clubs & Organizations
