Live United
The mission of United Way of Albany County is to increase the organized capacity of people to care for one another.
Our goal is to help people achieve satisfactory fulfillment.
UWAC seeks, through planning, fund raising, allocations and cooperation with member agencies, to bring about and maintain a balance between human service needs and resources.
Welcome to United Way of Albany County!
Live United
Allory and Dawn did a fantastic job running our 2008 campaign.
Thank you so much for all of your hard work; we could not have been this successful without your determination and guidance!
Thank you to everyone who helped us raise over $375,000 this year!
United Way allocates 2008 funds
By PETER BAUMANN
Boomerang Staff Writer
United Way of Albany County has allocated nearly $300,000 from their 2008 campaign to the 12 organizations in the Laramie area that receive funding through the nonprofit United Way of Albany County Executive Director Kimberly Schutte said. Organizations will also have a chance for more funding this year, as the Albany branch has more than $4,000 left to allocate in one-time use funds.
“We allocated about $8,000 more this year than last year,” Schutte said. “And we have an additional $4,334 left that we’ll allocate. We’re having our agencies put in a separate request for those funds.”
That $4,300 is left over even after all of the allocation committee’s recommendations were fulfilled this year, United Way of Albany County Board President Scott McFarland said. Both United Way board members and community volunteers are on the committee.
Before dividing up funds, the committee members meet with every agency that receives funding before coming back to the United Way Albany County board with allocation recommendations.
“I was unable to participate in this year’s allocation process but, true to form, everybody stepped up. We didn’t miss a beat and were able to approve all of the requests,” McFarland said. While the economic turmoil around the country has also affected people in Albany County, McFarland said that, like every year, the Laramie community gave strong support to the 2008 campaign.
“I’ve been in Laramie nine years and I feel like we stick together, we watch each other’s backs,” McFarland said.
“It’s just that small town, small state, rural America feeling. We typically don’t look to big government for things; we try to take care of our community and ourselves. It’s just been great to see that when things are tough we step up to the plate.”
One of the United Way’s fundraising strengths is that the agencies that receive funding through the organization are free to spend it as they see fit, Schutte said.
“Because we have a strict criteria for our agencies to begin receiving funding from us we don’t actually make them choose a project for the funds. They can use this money for whatever they need it for in their organization,” Schutte said.
The United Way Albany County 2009 campaign will kick off later this year on Sept. 15, Schutte said.
Peter Baumann’s e-mail address is lbedit9@laramieboomerang.com
