The Peru Gazette

United Way of the Adirondack Region, Inc. has met 95% of the 2019 campaign goal of $725,000. The annual campaign is conducted primarily during the fall months and concludes in February of each year. This year’s campaign raised a total of $688,750.00 which includes proceeds from special events and also includes projections of pending results from businesses and individuals not yet received, but anticipated.

Hannah Provost, Partner at Lomanto and Company, served as the Campaign Chair this year. She said, “We are so delighted to deliver this exciting news to our three county region. It is once again a testament to the generosity and caring nature of the North Country. It was very challenging this year and we are proud of what we have been able to achieve. It was a valiant team effort among campaign team volunteers, United Way staff and employee campaign representatives, but most of all, it was the generosity of businesses, organizations and individuals that made it successful. I am always so impressed to see how people in our region come together for their friends and neighbors.”

Other campaign team members include: Bruce Garcia, Marge Garcia, Julie Kramer, Tony Searing, Lisa VanNatten, Jerry Morrow, Bruce Gray, Anna Walls, Gayle Alexander, Dan Alexander, DaleAnne Wolter, Nicole Cline, Todd McCarthy, Andrea Dumas, Beth Barnes, Jamie Basiliere, Jody Carpenter, James Monty, Amy Kretser, Billy Jones and staff members Marion Daniels, Kathy Snow, Holly Lafountain, Makayla Provost, Leona Andrews, Tamar Smalls, and John Bernardi, CEO.

The State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA), which is a campaign for state employees that runs parallel to the United Way campaign also wrapped up recently and raised a total of $114,228.00, which is included in the campaign total. A regional committee of state employees, chaired by Bill Ferguson of Empire State Development, conducts the annual fund raising campaign in state facilities across the region.

The mission of United Way, which serves Clinton, Essex and Franklin Counties, is to be a leader in community partnership building and to increase the organized capacity of people to care for one another. The funds raised from this campaign will be allocated to local community partner agencies based on donor designations and agency applications for additional funds to support high priority health and human service programs. A committee of community members will review requests for undesignated funds and recommend to the board of directors the awarding of grants based upon prioritized community needs throughout the region.

Ed Davis, President of the United Way Board of Directors said, “Funds stay local and go toward supporting critical services for our friends and neighbors here in the North Country.” Last year, the health and human service network supported by United Way provided service to nearly eighty thousand people throughout Clinton, Essex and Franklin Counties.