By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

As the United Way of Ellis County reaches the anticipated closing of its annual campaign, the agency is significantly below its fundraising goal.

“I will be blunt, we are desperate for help,” Sherry Dryden, UWEC executive director, said.

She called the agency’s situation dire and said agencies that are funded by United Way will likely have to cut service or the number of people served if the campaign ends significantly short of goal.

As of the end of the week, Dryden anticipated the agency will be only 40 percent to its $400,000 fundraising goal.

The United Way, which usually ends its annual campaign Dec. 31, has already decided to extend the campaign into January, but Dryden said she is still concerned the agency will have to make large cuts in funding to its agencies.

“It’s going to hurt,” Dryden said. “It means that we have to cut the support to the agencies by half.”

The United Way raises funding for many smaller non-profit community organizations that do not have the staffs or the resources to do fundraising on their own. Dryden said if these local agencies have to spend more time fundraising, that takes away time from those organizations providing services. Because of their size, some agencies will have no other way to address funding deficits other than to cut services.

“I don’t want to see anybody lose their jobs,” Dryden said. “We don’t want to see anyone lose services. We have averaged these last three years approximately 8,000 people being helped and even more in services. When you are looking at those kinds of numbers and you only make half of your campaign, you are looking at 4,000 people needing help and can’t get it. So who else is going to provide those services?”

Last year, United Way supported local programs at 15 partner agencies.

These included the American Red Cross, Big Brother Big Sisters, Cancer Council of Ellis County, Catholic Charities, Center for Life Experiences, Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas, Early Childhood Connections, First Call for Help, Hays Area Children’s Center, Options, Parents and Children Together, Salvation Army and Western Kansas Association on the Concerns for the Disabled.

Each agency has to meet guidelines and standards to receive funds.

At least two of the agencies the Hays Post spoke to said they would consider cutting staff hours or a staff position if they saw a significant decrease in United Way funding.

Less money for Big Brothers Big Sisters would mean less staff and fewer children served, said Jenny Bates, executive director.

Big Brothers Big Sisters will provide mentors for about 200 children this year. Every match costs about $1,000 per year to support. This includes cost for background checks, reference checks as well as volunteer training.

Big Brothers Big Sisters received just more than $35,000 from UWEC in 2018. That equals about 35 matches.

“We serve children who are facing adversity whether that is something that is going on at home, struggles they are having at school or social things that are going on for them,” Bates said.

“What Big Brothers Big Sisters does is provide that consistent person in their life who is there for them and to support them and encourage them and help them be more confident,” she said.

“Our vision is that all kids achieve success in life. We want these kids to overcome the barriers they are facing. The Bigs help them go beyond that and become some of the first in their families to attend college or hold down full-time jobs after they graduate high school. It is making them productive citizens in society.”

First Call for Help was one of the biggest benefactors of UWEC funds in 2018, receiving a grant of $42,598.

Linda Mills, First Call for Help director, said she too was concerned about maintaining staffing if their agency’s funding was cut. Mills said the agency would do everything it could to replace funds by applying for grants or having another fundraiser. However, that is difficult, because the agency has only four staff members.

First Call uses the United Way funding to support the Backpacks for Kids program, its information and referral program and Meals on Wheels.

Mills said the agency would likely have to reduce the number of people served under the Backpacks for Kids and Meals on Wheels programs if its funding was cut. Backpacks for Kids provided school supplies for 657 children this fall. Thirty people in the community receive Meals on Wheels through First Call.

“I think I would like to stress that the United of Way is an important piece of the many agencies that we have in our community,” Mills said. “If we see that not being fully funded, it means all of the services are going to suffer somewhat. I want to stress how important they are in the community.”

CASA only has one full-time staff person. The $19,650 the agency receives from UWEC supports its work to advocate for children in the court system.

“Without United Way funding, it would be very challenging for us to provide advocates for the children currently going through the court system due to abuse and neglect in the 23rd Judicial District,” Lyndsey Crisenbery, CASA executive director, said.

“United Way funding helps our agency maintain quality staff that recruit, train and supervise advocates. Our advocates help ensure abuse and neglected children are receiving the services they need by getting to know them, their families and the other professionals who have worked with the child. The CASA advocates then advocate for the best interest of the child in court.”

Early Childhood Connections received funding in 2018 from United Way for a pilot program for summer preschool for children who were getting ready to enter Kindergarten.

Donna Hudson-Hamilton, ECC director, said she thought those children who participated greatly benefited from the targeted help. However, the program was solely funded with United Way money. The ECC is planning to apply for the grant again in 2019, but if it does not receive the funds, the program will go away.

Parents and Children Together, which serves 80 families in Ellis County, also is 100 percent funded by the United Way. PACT offers Ten Steps to Positive Parenting, a parenting class that seeks to reduce instances of child abuse in the community.

Options uses its $15,000 annual allocation to support its shelter program. Abuse survivors receive assistance with food, clothing, medical needs and transportation. The shelter will serve about 100 men, women and children this year.

Reductions in United Way funding could mean reductions in staffing and the ability to offer services, Jennifer Hecker, Options director, said. The shelter allows abuse victims to leave abusers, but remain in Hays where they may have jobs and other support systems, she said.

“No one should ever be put in a position to have to choose between financial security and safety,” Hecker said. “They are one in the same for many people. Financial security means freedom for many people. If you have to leave the community where your job is, you are not going to have the same kind of freedom you need to move on with your life.”

Some lead businesses are still trying to wrap up their employee pledges, Dryden said. Most of those businesses are coming in the same as last year or are a little down.

“The United Way humbly appreciates our business partners who do internal campaigns, which collectively accounts for almost half of our campaign. We are currently working with one of our partners who is transitioning to a new giving model, and we anxiously look forward to the outcomes next year,” Dryden said.

However, she said other factors have played into the shortfall in the campaign.

Although she did not want to name the agencies, Dryden noted several other community groups have been working on major fundraising campaigns at the same time as the United Way campaign.

“It is so exciting to see how excited our communities are with fundraising, and people tend to give better toward the end of the year, but we may need to look at leaving that traditional fundraising season and look at different times throughout the year instead,” Dryden said.

Changes in the tax laws also likely had an effect on giving this year, Dryden said. Some employers have also said they have had longtime employees and contributors retire. If you have made payroll deductions in the past, UWEC can set up checking account automatic withdrawals to maintain you giving.

“We have so many more opportunities to give than we had in the past,” Dryden said.

Also periodically, the United Way has dealt with concerns about administrative expenses, which are 16 to 20 percent. The local United Way is trying to develop an endowment that would fund the local agency’s administrative expenses, so 100 percent of the money raised each year could go to partner agencies.

“What I am finding as we do the Dine Out Days, as we have more one-on-ones with the public is there is also a hesitancy to give because people don’t really know us,” Dryden said. “Even though we are trying to educate people about what we do and how we do it, there is still hesitancy.”

An estimate of the United Way CEO’s income has circulated on social media, but Dryden said this social media estimate is not accurate. The United Way CEO makes a fraction of what a for-profit CEO in America would make, and the current CEO donates a portion of his salary back to the organization.

The CARE Council, a board of volunteers, will start reviewing funding levels for allocation in January. The decision on how the money United Way raised in the campaign is spent is up to them. The United Ways is still looking for a couple of members for that group.

Eagle Radio is planning a fundraiser for the United Way on Dec. 27. Look for more details to be announced soon.

If you wish to donate to United Way, you can do so online, call United Way at 785-628-8281, send checks to P.O. Box 367, Hays, KS 67601 or make a donation or pledge in person at the United Way office at the Hadley Center, 205 E. Seventh St., Suite 111, Hays.

Note: Eagle Radio is owned by Eagle Communications, which also owns and operated the Hays Post. Cristina Janney is a member of the CASA board, which receives funds from United Way.