The United Way of Southeast Missouri on Thursday announced the results of its latest campaign, which raised more than $971,000 in donations; volunteers gave more than 13,000 hours.

The organization hosted a luncheon at Wehrenberg Cape West 14 Cine in Cape Girardeau to celebrate the end of its 2013 campaign, in which it hoped to meet a $1 million goal.

Though last year's second largest workplace donor, Integrity Solution Services, formerly National Asset Recovery Services, closed in 2013, United Way came very close to meeting this year's goal, and a few campaigns are left to be recorded, said campaign chair Jeanne Muckerman of Banterra Bank.

United Way's fundraising goal last year was $950,000. About $1.3 million was raised.

Between the United Way's Read to Succeed and Opportunity Community programs, the organization clocked more than 13,000 volunteer hours throughout the campaign -- a $300,000 value, Muckerman said.

Since the 2008-2009 school year, the Cape Girardeau Central High School graduation rate increased from 73 percent to 83 percent, with the help of the United Way Education Solutions Team, the Cape Girardeau School District and superintendent Dr. Jim Welker, said Nancy Jernigan, United Way's executive director.

Jernigan said the goal is to increase the high school's graduation rate to 90 percent by the 2017-2018 school year.

Christa Turner, principal of Jefferson Elementary School in Cape Girardeau, attested to the success of the program, speaking of her students' gains in Read to Succeed.

The school has about 18 kindergartners or first-grade students participate in the program for 30 minutes a day, four days a week. Students read and work one-on-one with adult volunteers, such as Southeast Missouri State University athletes, to increase their reading levels.

Over the course of four months, the students' reading levels increased an average of 1.9 grade levels, Turner said.

Opportunity Community is a program in which area "navigators" or mentors educate community members about poverty, as well as help encourage and guide them out of it.

Sherry Henson is a retired teacher and a navigator for her neighbor, Venus Curry. Henson said she worked with Curry to help improve her reading and math skills, which ultimately helped Curry pass three tests that allow her better employment opportunities.

Henson said she learned more from Curry than she had from many years of teaching.

Everyone's lives are crazy, Jernigan said, but that should not mean people stop thinking about their community and neighbors.

"United Way is the connector," she said.

Money raised from this year's campaign will continue to fund programs that promote early childhood education and after-school programs, according to a news release from United Way. It also will help people meet basic needs and provide services for the elderly and victims of abuse and disaster.

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