United Way funding recipients announced

From disaster relief to reading readiness, food pantries to emergency shelters and puppies to ponies, 38 community service programs sponsored by 27 not-for-profit organizations will receive funding through United Way of Southeast Missouri over the next three years.

The list of the area’s United Way-funded agencies was announced Tuesday at a news conference attended by officials from each agency.

Also in attendance were representatives of about 30 area businesses that have agreed to conduct employee fund drives starting this fall on behalf of United Way as part of the organization’s 2019-2020 campaign.

Elizabeth Shelton, executive director of the Cape Girardeau-based United Way of Southeast Missouri, said decisions about which agencies and programs the organization would support “were based on where our donor gifts can do the greatest good.”

Shelton said “some really hard decisions” had to be made about which agencies and programs would and would not receive United Way dollars during the current funding cycle.

Reginald Jennings, operational director of Cape Area Habitat for Humanity, speaks about the help the agency receives from United Way of Southeast Missouri during a news conference Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.Jay Wolz

“Requests for funding doubled the revenue the United Way of Southeast Missouri is able to invest,” she said.

The agency selection process, Shelton explained, began months ago and involved 60 to 70 community volunteers who reviewed and scored more than 50 program applications, participated in dozens of site visits, heard numerous agency presentations and debated the relative merits of each applicant before recommending the proposed list of partner agencies to the local United Way’s board of directors.

“For our 2019 through 2022 funding cycle, we have increased our numbers from previously supporting 24 partner agencies representing 28 programs to 27 partners representing 38 programs,” she said.

The agencies serve residents in Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Perry and northern Scott counties, and address needs related to health, education and financial stability.

The exact amount of funding each agency and program will receive will depend on the amount of money the United Way raises each year. Shelton pointed out, however, “99 cents out of every dollar donated will go to these partners and programs.” Corporate sponsors, including Procter & Gamble, Ameren and Mondi, underwrite the local United Way’s operating expenses.

Of the agencies that will be funded during the United Way’s current three-year funding cycle, Shelton said “all previous partners who requested funding are returning and we have added new partners by slightly decreasing funding to education and increasing it to programs related to health and financial stability.”

Shelton said it often takes a combination of programs to successfully address various obstacles and challenges people might encounter.

“Rarely does one problem cause a family or individual to need help from the community and rarely can just one organization return that family to stability and financial independence,” she said.

“We live in a very generous community,” she continued, “but the need here exceeds the need that we are able to meet. There are many families in our region who are just one crisis away from needing many of these services.”

United Way of Southeast Missouri will kick off its 2019-2020 fundraising drive with a luncheon from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Aug. 29 at Cape Girardeau Country Club. Tickets are $25 with proceeds going toward the campaign and may be purchased by calling the Cape Girardeau United Way office or by calling (573) 334-9634.

More information may be found at www.unitedwayofsemo.org.

---

United Way’s partner agencies for 2019-2022

The United Way of Southeast Missouri’s continuing partners, some of which sponsor several programs:

• American Red Cross
• APPLE senior paperwork program
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Missouri
• Bollinger County 4-H
• Cape Girardeau School District
• Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri
• Educare at Southeast Missouri State University
• First Call for Help
• Girl Scouts of Missouri Heartland
• Greater St. Louis Area Council Boy Scouts of America
• Habitat for Humanity
• Jackson Senior Center
• Little Whitewater Baptist Church Food Pantry
• Lutheran Family & Children Services
• Read to Succeed
• SADI (SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence)
• Safe House for Women
• Scott City Ministerial Alliance
• The Salvation Army
• Voices for Children/CASA
• 211 (unfunded in-kind partner)

New partner organizations:

• Center for Speech & Hearing at Southeast Missouri State University
• Christian Boxing Academy & Learning Center
• EPIC Pals (a program that works to develop bonds between children and dogs to help reduce substance abuse among youth)
• Hope for One More emergency shelter program
• Meadow Heights Elementary School
• Mississippi Valley Therapeutic Horsemanship
• New Life Mission Inn in Perryville, Missouri
• One City job training program
• Oral Health Coalition of the Cape Girardeau County Health Department
• Tiger Lilies at Cape Girardeau Central Middle School

Do you crave business news? Check out B Magazine, and the B Magazine email newsletter. Check it out at www.semissourian.com/newsletters to find out more.