“Our Impact Committees had especially difficult decisions to make this year. COVID-19 had significantly impacted our campaign this past year, leaving limited funds to distribute, but our committees decided to focus on the most critical needs in our community,” said Kerry Lee Pedraza, executive director of United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties. “This year really showed how every dollar makes an impact and how grateful we are to each of our supporters.”
Money raised in each county stays in that county and is immediately redistributed to the community, according to Pedraza.
Second Harvest Food Bank located in Springfield received over $80,000 allocated between Clark and Champaign counties and will use the money towards general funds for transportation, staffing and food. United Way granted $56,650 to Clark County and $27,404 to Champaign county. Over $12,000 between both counties will go to 15 different United Way partner companies within the community as a credit to the foodbank.
As the main pipeline for Clark, Champaign and Logan counties, Second Harvest collected over 12 million pounds of food in the past year. Executive Director of Second Harvest Foodbank Tyra Jackson said this equates to the distribution of about 11 million meals.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
“Food insecurity affects quite a few people,” Jackson said. “The funds that we are receiving for Clark and Champaign counties will serve approximately 42,000 people. United Way gives a way for our community to really look at nonprofits and give back. It means a lot to us because every dollar we receive we can provide five to six meals.”
United Way is also partnering with Second Harvest to help them find volunteers, which they have seen a shortage of during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Caring Kitchen, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in Urbana, also received funds from United Way.
Most of the $19,962 the organization receive will go towards general operations and the food kitchen to pay for staff and food, Interim Executive Director of Caring Kitchen Kara Jordan said.
“It costs us $42.52 to shelter someone per night. With the allocation of the $20,000 , we can serve 470 nights of stay here,” Jordan said.
The United Way only provided financial assistance through grants to previously funded programs for the 2020-21 funding. The recipients also received a 15% reduction from the amount of money received in the pervious year, according to the organization. For the 2021-2022 funding year, the United Way will return to its previous grant funding process of including new recipients.
Applications are open from the end of January to the middle of March. The United Way’s 2022 fundraising campaign will begin in September.
This year local programs and organizations requested more than $1.3 million in funding, leaving a need of $542,995 that was unable to be funded, according to the organization.
“Our committee this year really wanted to focus on those two things (food and shelter) because we saw a huge impact on that last year,” said Kara Van Zant, director of Community Impact for the Unitec Way. “We are really hoping that out of this next year we will be able to not only survive from COVID but begin to thrive again as a community. We may not have been able to give out as much as we had hoped this past year, but at the end of the day, your dollar is making a difference and is making an impact.”
Van Zant says a majority of the donations they receive are from community members.
“When we say that every dollar counts, we definitely felt the impact of that last year when we weren’t able to have those people who donated a dollar every paycheck or every week,” Van Zant said. “We really appreciate everyone who continued to support us either through the COVID-19 community fund or through the annual campaign.”
United Way is a nonprofit focused on improving education, income and health in local communities. The organization directly operates 2-1-1, a free phone service that provides callers with information about local resources such as hospitals, doctors and the nearest food pantry. They also organize the Dolly Parton imagination library, which sends free books to young children.
“These organizations are changing lives every day,” Pedraza said. “We are proud to play a part in funding programs that help residents of all ages in a variety of ways.”
By the numbers
$796,745: The amount the United Way is allocating to area community organizations
66: Number of organizations scheduled to receive United Way funding
15: The percentage reduction groups are receiving this year as compared a year ago.
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