With the February deadline looming, United Way of Loudon County officials remain cautiously hopeful the nonprofit organization can reach its largest goal ever attempted at $475,000.

Judy Fenton, local United Way executive director, said $142,216 had been raised as of Friday morning. The latest large contribution was from Oak Ridge National Laboratory at $59,455, which is $5,000 more than last year. ORNL was the first large corporate contributor to report for the year, she said.

Fenton said she does not know how this year’s numbers compare to the last campaign at this point, but “reporting wise” the campaign is lagging.


“We’ve got a long way to go,” Fenton said. “Now we have a lot of companies that have not reported. They’re coming in a little bit slower, the reports, so (it) makes me nervous. ... We had a couple that — like Y-12 didn’t kick off until later. Usually they’re kicking off at the first of September. They didn’t kick off until the first of November. So, some are just they’re running their campaigns later in the year.”

The top four contributors for the United Way previously have been Kimberly-Clark, Tate & Lyle, Tellico Village and ORNL. Fenton said she may hear reports from Kimberly-Clark and Tate & Lyle by the end of the month, and a report from Y-12 could be sometime in January.

Andy Ewing, United Way board chairman, said the Tellico Village campaign timing is behind from 2013 due to the kickoff happening about two weeks later than normal.

“Down here in the Village we seem to be a little bit behind where we were a year ago, and so today one of my functions is to certainly to write a letter that will go directly to past givers that we have not yet heard from as a reminder because many people wait until December to make their decisions of what they’re going to do for their gifts for the year, you know, year-end gifts,” Ewing said.

Despite the delayed start, Ewing said the Village campaign is 74-75 percent complete, which is “about right on track where we were at this time” last year. The goal for this year is to raise $88,000 within Tellico Village. Ewing said he remains “modestly optimistic” United Way will meet its campaign figure.

“If those who contributed last year all make their contributions here at the year end, which often people wait until toward the end of December to make their decisions, if all of them were to match their gifts of last year, we would certainly make our local goal down here in the Village, and that’s encouraging,” Ewing said.

United Way has participated in three fundraisers for the year, including Celebrity Gas Pump Day in September, Driving to Make a Difference in October and a chili dinner in Greenback in November. Ewing said the remainder of funds raised will be through organizations and others within the community.

Celebrity Gas Pump Day funds raised $1,313, surpassing last year’s total of $1,242, Fenton said. Driving to Make a Difference raised $10,092, and the Greenback chili dinner raised $500.

Last year the United Way officials aimed for $450,000 and instead exceeded that goal at $464,363.

“Every year we’re concerned at this stage as we close in on the year end,” Ewing said. “We were pleasantly surprised last year at the year end, and we’re encouraged this year I guess by the fact that ORNL, despite some of the turmoil that’s going on up there, they actually increased their contribution according to Judy (Fenton).”

Donations can be made by phone at 865-582-4082, online at www.unitedway loudoncounty.org or mail at P.O. Box 145, Lenoir City, TN 37771.