Today is April 1st! We are already at the beginning of the second quarter of 2010! NO FOOLING! During the first quarter, the United Way has held an annual meeting, elected officers and board members, adopted personnel policies, established a Finance Committee, sponsored the Delta Dental Care Mobile, participated in the Yankton Drug Coalition Underage Drinking Public Forum, attended many meetings and much more.
Each of the United Way board members selected an affiliated agency where they would serve as Liaison. The role of Agency Liaison is to keep in contact with their agency, attend one or two of their board meetings during the year, raise awareness of the agency’s events with the United Way Board and offer support or guidance when needed.
2011 is quickly approaching – at least for agencies that are requesting funding for that year. It seems impossible for agencies to look into that crystal ball and predict the services that the community will expect from them - especially after the last couple of years! Historical numbers, current needs and long range goals assist them in their filling out the application. In a couple of months the campaign goal for 2011 will be established after the Allocation Committee completes reading the applications and reviewing the in-house projects.
We survived our first Archery Shoot Off with straight shooting local “celebrities”, steady and true archery hunters and VERY impressive shooting from four archers that showed the audience that a Life Saver makes a very small target, indeed! The Campaign Committee will be meeting very soon to plan the 2011 campaign activities and projecting community support. We are still receiving donor information from last falls’ campaign! Volunteers, event dates, publicity, processes will be thoughtfully considered for raising awareness of the services provided for our neighbors in need. Campaign is a year-round activity!
Plans are also being made for the annual Community Volunteer Celebration. National Volunteer Week is April 18 – 24 and many organizations have been working on special programs to express their appreciation for the people that enable their programs to exist. Volunteers are the life blood of 99.9% of non-profit organizations. They certainly are an essential part of United Way & Volunteer Services and mere words cannot adequately express our appreciation for all that they do – from those people serving on our Board to those that are involved with community projects.
One quarter down – three to go! There are meetings to plan and more meetings to attend. Keeping our Mission Statement: “To promote voluntary giving and services to support human needs in the greater Yankton community” will keep us grounded and guide us as we continue to serve those that need our services. Your support is GREATLY appreciated and your concerns, comments and ideas are always welcome. Share with us by calling us at 665-6766, emailing at
unitedway@iw.net, join us on FaceBook or stopping by our office at 231 Broadway.