The United Way Estevan has established a goal of $340,000 for its 2019 telethon, which will take place on Oct. 18 and 19.
The goal was finalized during the United Way’s board meeting May 15. It marks an increase of $5,000 from the previous year.
Becca Foord, who is this year’s board president, said the United Way has an allocations committee that gets together each spring before the goal is established.
“We go through what we spent in the last couple of years, we go through our budgets over the past few years, we take an estimate of what our overhead costs will be for the year, and as most of the community knows, we try to keep that as low as we can,” said Foord.
Then they go through the applications for funding sent in by their 15 member agencies.
“If need be, we set up a meeting with them to talk about their package and what their plans are for the year. We try to keep a good working relationship with them to see what they need, and based on what we can raise,” said Foord.
After going through their requests, the United Way comes up with their goal. The bulk of the money they raise each year goes to the 15 member agencies, two community projects and their community impact fund.
Among the initiatives supported by the community impact fund are two $500 scholarships for graduating students at the Estevan Comprehensive School. The top criteria were community involvement and volunteerism.
“The United Way is very big on volunteering, and we take pride in the fact that we have a lot of good volunteers, so we’d like to recognize the young people in our community who are also taking the time to volunteer out of their social lives and their school work.”
This year’s recipients are Leighton Mus and Sarah Leverton.
Foord noted that each president usually has a goal in mind for how much they want to raise. Her number was lower than the goal that was established, but the board decided that since they have raised at least $350,000 each of the last three years, they could have a higher goal than in 2018.
“I know we’re in a little bit of a tough economic situation right now, but we figured you know what? Last year was $335,000, so let’s challenge the community for $5,000 more this year.”
Foord is confident the United Way will reach that goal, because the community has supported the organization every year. People see the value of the member agencies, and they appreciate all of the agencies’ hard work.
The United Way’s theme for this year is Give Where you Live, which reflects the growing desire for people to shop local. It’s an appropriate theme, Foord said, because the money that’s donated during the telethon stays in the community.
