The United Way of the Flint Hills has raised over $334,000 this year, putting it just over halfway to its goal of $600,000. Drive officials said that, despite the success so far, it is still important to contribute, especially in this turbulent economic climate.
“We are very pleased with our Restaurant Days fundraiser,” said Duane Dreiling, executive director of United Way of the Flint Hills. “It looks like we raised approximately $1,000 among the four restaurants, and we’re very pleased with that response.” The restaurants that participated were Coburn’s, Planet Sub, Olpe Chicken House and Gambino’s.
“Basically, we do our annual fundraising campaign, the United Way Annual Drive, and through the funds that we raise from the drive, we fund 38 programs among 24 agencies,” Dreiling said. “Those funds go back out to those health and human service agencies that provide services to our communities.”
The goal of $600,000 for this year is lower than last year’s totals because the agency realizes that people are being forced to tighten their belts.
“We knew it was going to be a tough year,” said campaign chair Connie Cahoone. “Our goal is lower than it was last year and it’s lower than what we raised last year. With the economy slowing down, we just didn’t feel like we could raise as much as we did last year. We understand where everybody’s at with their funds, but we still feel like that is an attainable goal.”
Despite the lower expectations, Cahoone and Dreiling emphasized that the United Way needs money now more than ever because people need the programs provided by the agencies.
“Typically, we receive one to two calls a week from people looking for help,” Dreiling said. “Yesterday alone we received three phone calls from people looking for help with their utilities, and that’s really scary. We need this campaign to be a success because we need to help these people.”
Dreiling said that already this month the Salvation Army is out of money.
“So they’re not even able to help those three people who called yesterday,” he said. “I have seen the number of people needing assistance significantly jump in just the last three weeks. That just demonstrates the need out there in the community, and that’s why it’s important for us to be successful in this campaign.”