The United Fund of Surry has a new executive director who’s been on the job hardly a month, is coming out of a difficult fundraising year and is still dealing with the lingering coronavirus pandemic.
So perhaps some would excuse the agency if it lifted the pedal just a bit in its upcoming fundraising goal for 2021-2022, right?
Don’t tell that to Executive Director Melissa Hiatt, or her board of directors. The agency just announced its fundraising goal of $430,000 for this year — that’s a whopping 16% above last year’s totals, and just 4.4% lower than the previous, pre-pandemic goal for 2019.
“Our focus is on the citizens of Surry County,” Hiatt said recently of the organization’s reason for existence. Unlike some other organizations, all of the United Fund’s money stays in the local community, directly benefiting residents of Surry County. The United Fund supports 26 local human service agencies — rescue squads, the American Red Cross, children’s care organizations, both Boy and Girl Scouts, community centers, The Salvation Army, food banks, senior citizen groups, agencies targeting homelessness, domestic assault, drug recovery, medical services for the underserved, and others.
And that vital support of efforts to help those who most need it takes money.
Hiatt, who began her new duties June 21, said the agency will officially begin its fundraising year on Aug. 1, with a series of fundraising efforts set up throughout the year.
The first of those is the Aug. 14 Downtown Rocks and Runs, a popular 5K and 10K race in downtown Mount Airy, featuring a DJ and plenty of fun. Registration is still open for the race, with the cost of the run at $25 for the 5K and $35 for the 10K, with those prices going up by $5 after Aug. 1. The first 200 runners who register are guaranteed a t-shirt and goody bag.
The kid’s fun run is free for youth 12 and younger, but does not include a t-shirt. Those wanting a shirt can pay $10 for the fun run.
Next up is the Greater Granite Open, a golf tournament set for Oct. 7 at Pilot Knob Park in Pilot Mountain.
The meat of the fundraising effort, though, will be the annual workplace campaigns, which begin Oct. 1 but run through January. That’s when Hiatt and other members of her fundraising cabinet — John Tarn, Sandra Hurley, Jon Jonczak, Jeffery Trenter, and Brian McPeak — will meet with area companies, offering workers there an opportunity to learn how much the United Fund touches their lives and the lives of those around them.
Last year, with a goal of $425,000, the agency was able to raise $371,000 — its shortfall largely, if not totally, caused by the pandemic.
“It was a hard year,” Hiatt said. “We wrote off a lot of pledges because people weren’t working,” as a result of company shutdowns and mass layoffs.
While the pandemic has made fundraising more difficult, it has been instructive, Hiatt said.
“It taught all of us we can do things differently…it helped us rethink how we do things.”
Even with less money coming in, Hiatt said United Fund agencies actually served more people over the past year — 53,913, up from 39,992 the year before.
The pandemic also helped reshape the United Fund’s priorities — putting more emphasis on crisis intervention, medical, counseling and food assistance while curtailing some community activity funding.
With the pandemic, and its affects on the local economy still being felt, Hiatt said she knows meeting the $430,000 goal will be a challenge, but she believes Surry County will meet that challenge.
“Surry County is one of the most giving communities in the state,” she said.
And she’s counting on that giving spirit to help the United Fund this year reach more people in need.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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