United Way nears its 2015 goal
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on January 6, 2016 1:46 PM
Although the 2015 United Way of Wayne County campaign was due to end Dec. 31, it has been extended to include pledges that haven't come in yet.
United Way director Steve Parr said the campaign is at 98.6 percent of its goal, $1,163,716.
"So we need a little over $16,000 to meet the goal," he said.
"We would have been done, but we're waiting on a couple of foundations to send theirs in, some of our leadership donors who haven't sent theirs in and a few corporate gifts that we're still working on. Right now we're confident that we'll meet the goal.
"It's good to have another back-to-back year of meeting the goal of the community campaign. We've had a lot of great support from employee groups this year."
Parr said there has been some increase in giving here and there, but also some have gone down.
"But obviously overall, we're on the upswing," he said. "There's been a lot of energy out there. A lot of people are just really buying into the notion that we're talking about improving lives. We're not talking about how much money do we raise. It's all about improving lives.
"It's cold to just say, 'Hey I have to raise $100.' But to say, 'Don't you want to be part of our community effort to really make a difference, whether it's kids or seniors.'
"There's just a sense of excitement that people are wanting to give back and get involved in what we're doing."
Parr also attributes the success of the campaign to some dynamic volunteers for the 2015 campaign.
"They spent hours and hours out in the community," he said. "We couldn't do it without them."
Parr said it was a struggle a few years when the campaign fell short of its goal.
"But we've been working our way back up, and having two consecutive years where the community has met its goal reflects that the community has rallied around United Way," he said.