Dear Editor,
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the community who has continued to support the United Way of Union County for the past 62 years. Founded in 1958 as the United Appeals of Union County, the objective was simple, to fundraise and to advocate for local health and human service agencies so they could focus on supporting those in need.
Eight agencies were allocated dollars from that first campaign including five that remain our partners today— The American Red Cross, Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, The Salvation Army and The Union County Cancer Society.
Today, we partner with 26 local partner agencies and help fund 35 programs.
The backbone of the United Way has long been the workplace campaign. We are grateful for the generosity of local employers including Honda of America, ScottsMiracle-Gro, Nestle Research and Development, Memorial Health, Union Rural Electric and Richwood Bank to just name a few, who have fueled our campaign for many years.
However, modern philanthropy is changing and United Way of Union County is working to best navigate how to better reach today’s donors. We recently made the unilateral decision to affiliate with United Way of Central Ohio to strengthen our back-office resources so we can better serve and tend to the emergent and changing needs of our community. Our agreement with Central Ohio maintains our local offices, our local staff and all dollars raised in Union County will stay in Union County.
In addition to funding local agencies, we most recently worked with the county’s Emergency Operations Center to lead the Mass Critical Care Unit in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also partnered with the Union County Foundation to establish and help chair the Union County COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. Almost $80,000 was awarded to local agencies to assist those impacted by COVID-19.
We also manage and administer federal Emergency Food and Shelter Funds and led the committee that awarded over $20,000 to The Hope Center and Bridges Community Action.
We are more than fundraisers. We are active change agents in the community and a constant beacon ready to serve no matter the circumstances.
We believe in our agencies, we believe in our local community, and financial support is vital to the success of our agencies’ programming.
Corinne Bix
United Way of Union County