The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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Tyson Fresh Meats’ elimination of 1,500 jobs in Emporia will cost the United Way of the Flint Hills about $30,000, and the agency is making plans to request that the company ease the budget crunch it created by making a direct contribution of its own.

Executive Director Duane Dreiling announced the loss of pledged funds at a special meeting Thursday afternoon, after receiving a breakdown of affected employees and their pledges from Tyson.

The United Way campaign here had announced in January that it had exceeded its fundraising goal by more than $7,000, and a budget based on that amount already had been completed.

The agency’s board of trustees met in special session Thursday afternoon to readjust the budget again. The board had set an initial budget in December, when it appeared that the $610,000 goal would not be met. At that time, they based their estimates on a $600,000 total.

However, a flurry of last-minute, large donations pushed the total pledged to $617,000, and left the board with the happy task of realigning its budget to include the extra $17,000.

Board member Monte Miller asked if Dreiling had been given information about whether Tyson’s closing of its slaughter operation here would create peripheral losses from companies that may no longer operate in Emporia as a result of the closing.

“That is strictly the Tyson employees and corporate match contribution,” Dreiling said.

The board discussed several options, including not allocating monies to the United Way reserve funds this year and falling back on the $600,000 budget from 2007. The United Way now has reserves of about four and a half months; United Way of America recommends agencies have reserve funds of at least three months.

With the drop in budget, some members pointed out, there also may be a dip in demand for services from some of the United Way member agencies. Agencies such as the Salvation Army and SOS, however, may have increased demand for services.

The board of trustees needed to set a budget amount on Thursday to provide a baseline for allocations by the Community Investment Committee of the United Way, which was to meet Thursday evening.

“We’re sitting around this table, and none of us know what it’s going to be like six months from now,” Dreiling said.

Miller said he thought the trustees should “hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”

The United Way budget was helped for this year when three long-term agencies did not apply for allocations for 2008.

Savings from that were as follows: $18,650 for The Learning Connection, $5,000 for the Emporia Community Housing Organization, and $6,000 for the Coffey County Resource Council.

The United Way also has received applications from two new agencies, the Resource Council for Independent Living and Help House in Osage City.

“Obviously, with the reduced funding level, it may not be appropriate to bring in new agencies,” Dreiling said.

The board decided to leave its budget at the 2007 level for this year, and voted to set $434,775 as the amount the Community Investment Committee would use to make its allocation recommendations.

The total money expected to be collected and available is about $460,000. Approximately $25,225 of that amount needed to be set aside from shared allocations because of the number of donors who designated their money only for specific agencies, trustee and accountant Lorinda Duncan explained.

“If the specific designations are more than we expect to appropriate to the agencies, then that goes into the donor designations (fund),” she said.

The 2007 budget was based on a $600,000 campaign, less monies set aside for the reserve funds, pledges that did not materialize, and administrative costs, such as salaries and other expenses.

If other unexpected changes occur, whether they are caused by loss of pledges or by increased demand for services from the agencies, the board has the option of meeting again to adjust figures as needed.

Miller agreed to join Dreiling in approaching Tyson’s corporate office with a request that the company make a direct donation to the United Way to help compensate for the losses resulting from the loss of 1,500 employees.