Organizers for the United Way of the Flint Hills 2006 fund-raising drive hope to leave last year’s final result of $600,000 in the dust.
Drive chair and Gazette publisher Chris Walker announced the goal during a luncheon today. Last year, more than $601,000 was raised, nearly $50,000 more than the previous year’s amount.
“This is the time of year when the community comes together to raise money for area social service agencies,” Walker said. “They do a lot of good and don’t get recognition. This is where the community comes together to support them.”
Walker said it’s important for the community to invest in social service agencies.
“These agencies help people get ahead,” he said.
During today’s luncheon, results of the Pacesetter drive, chaired by Larie Schoap, were announced. A total of 27 companies participated in the Pacesetter campaign. To date, their employees have raised $286,847.35. Duane Dreiling, executive director of United Way of the Flint Hills, said he expects that amount to go well over $300,000 when the final amounts are tallied.
Dreiling talked about changes that have taken place in the organization over the past few years. Under each focus area, the organization is now listing which programs they fund within each United Way organization.
“Rather than say we’ll give money to SOS, now we’ll say here are the programs within SOS that we are going to fund,” Dreiling said. “That allows us to go back out to the community and say here’s what we were able to do and fund in order to have the greatest impact on the community.”
New this year is a Hispanic arm of the fundraising effort.
“It’s really about education and how we can educate Hispanic businesses about what the United Way is trying to accomplish,” Dreiling said.
The 2006 campaign ends Dec. 31. The final amount raised will be announced in January.