For the second year in a row, it appears United Way of Loudon County will miss its campaign goal of $475,000.
Judy Fenton, local United Way executive director, said the organization was able to bring in a little more than $462,673, which is higher than the previous campaign. Last year the nonprofit group gathered about $443,919.
“It’s getting close,” Fenton said.
The top three contributors for the 2015 campaign were Kimberly-Clark, Tate & Lyle and Tellico Village, with the amounts of $101,474, $85,427 and $84,185, respectively. Fenton said Tellico Village failed to meet its goal of $90,000 this year, noting lack of participation from some newcomers.
“Some are moving out that have been contributors,” Fenton said. “You’ve got new people moving in who are not participating.”
As a way to get more involvement, Fenton said the United Way hosted a street fair in Tellico Village. The first year was “bad” due to poor weather conditions, she said, which as a result hurt the overall event’s attendance.
“... We’ll probably continue that and look for other ways to connect with them,” Fenton said.
Those interested in donating for this campaign still have until Thursday. Fenton said donations can be made at P.O. Box 145, Lenoir City, TN 37771, or by calling her office at 865-582-4082.
Process done
Fenton said the nine-person United Way board had completed its process to decide how much funding goes to specific partner agencies in the community.
According to a document from Fenton, there were 29 requests made to United Way. Interviews with each organization were held March 10-11 and 14-15, with members deciding March 15. A recommendation was taken last week before the full United Way board.
“They put a lot of thought into it and review every application and discussed what they heard and what they read,” Fenton said.
To be eligible for funding, organizations needed to be a 501©(3), have a state charitable solicitation permit and submit their information to Fenton by Feb. 19.
“Most people donate to United Way and let us do the distribution,” Fenton said. “Those funds are what we call unrestricted. But we do get donations from individuals who say, ‘I want this amount to go to the Boys & Girls Club, and I want this amount to go to the senior center.’... But they tell us where they want their money to go. This money is called designation. It is designated money.
“When we do our allocations to agencies, we have to take the money that was designated out of the pool that we have available to fund the agency, because they’ve already told us where they’d like for it to go,” she added. “So if you’ve got $100,000, and $25,000 was designated, that leaves the allocations committee $75,000 to allocate to the agencies. ... The board’s funding, that $75,000 let’s say, is guaranteed. If you requested $5,000 and we ended up giving you $5,000, then over the next four quarters you get your $5,000.”
A ‘game-changer’
The Epilepsy Foundation of East Tennessee has sought funding from Loudon County, one of nine United Ways from which the nonprofit receives money, for at least 12 years, education coordinator Paula Ellis said. This year the local organization asked the local United Way for $2,000.
“We would have had to close our doors if it wasn’t for the United Way,” she said. “We wouldn’t be able to do this.”
Ellis said funds will go toward education and client services, including the purchase of bicycle helmets to help prevent epilepsy.
“Head injuries are the No. 1 cause of epilepsy, so we give away free bicycle helmets to help prevent epilepsy because it is the only preventable cause,” Ellis said.
Ellis said the organization would put the money toward clients to help cover medication, doctor visits, dental needs and seizure first aid presentations given to local school nurses, day cares, bus drivers, assisted living homes and local emergency medical technicians.
“We also help people in Loudon County who don’t have insurance that have epilepsy,” Ellis said. “We help them get appointments with neurologists and we pay for office visits and some testing. We also pay for medication for people with epilepsy. We also pay for dental needs.
“If it’s dental and it’s caused by their anti-epileptic medication, because a lot of the anti-epileptic medication will — the gums to recede from the teeth and cause the teeth to fall out, and also a lot of times when they’ll have seizures they’ll fall and they’ll hit their mouth on something hard and knock their teeth out, things like that,” she added.
The Little Tennessee Valley Educational Cooperative asked for $11,950 and $2,000 for two programs this year. Executive Director Pam Potocik said funding would cover the organization’s Birth to Three and after-school program, which is in its second year of funding.
“This program is — we have funding from the state of Tennessee for the core services, but United Way helps,” Potocik said. “There are things you have to do you never get enough money to do. United Way’s funding for us makes — it’s a game-changer. It makes a big difference in helping us get the services to children and families. Each family we serve has a home-based intervention developmental teacher that works with the child and with the parents together.
“The goal is to not just work with the child for an hour a week, but to coach families so they know what to work on with their child throughout the week throughout their daily routines, and you know how anything is the more you practice the better you get,” she added.
The after-school program is only at Lenoir City Elementary School, but Potocik said she would like to expand next year.
“That program we serve — in Lenoir City we’re serving 80 students and 20 parents, and it’s like after school it’s Monday through Thursday, but I think that’s before school and there’s two goals on that,” she said. “One is you want to help mold students to be successful learners and community members. There’s academic tutoring, homework help, nutrition lessons, health snacks, physical fitness and enrichment.”
