By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
United Way of Greater St. Joseph is looking for volunteers to help in the process that determines how best to distribute the $2 ½ million it receives annually.
United Way Director of Community Investment, Jodi Flurry, says the volunteers on various committees evaluate the needs of its 17 member agencies with the committees reporting to the United Way board.
“We have limited resources. Of course, the agencies could all use additional funding so they could further the work that they’re doing, but we do have limited resources,” Flurry tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “So, the volunteers have a tough job of making recommendations on how United Way should invest.”
Flurry says volunteers will spend about 12-to-15 hours during April and May on the allocations process. She says the youngest volunteer the United Way has is 13, who volunteers along with his mother. The oldest is approaching 80.
In all, approximately 150 volunteers from various backgrounds sit on committees that review the work and requests of two or three agencies. Those volunteers normally meet with agency officials at the agency itself, not learning just what the agencies hope to receive from the United Way fundraiser, but what the agencies are all about.
Flurry says each committee has 25-to-30 volunteers to evaluate the needs of those partner agencies as United Way prepares for its annual fundraising campaign.
“But it’s really the allocation volunteers who are the boots on the ground, reviewing the agencies and making those recommendations on how United Way should invest in this agency in the coming year,” Flurry says.
Flurry says the allocation process, though done out of the public’s eye, is extremely important.
“At the end of the day, this is the community’s money they’ve entrusted to the United Way,” Flurry says. “We need community members to make the recommendations on how these dollars should be invested back out into our community.”
Donna Zion serves as the United Way co-chair on investments. Zion began volunteering years ago and urges residents who might be hesitant to volunteer to just “jump in”
“After jumping into it and learning all about the different agencies, I was able to ask questions and then, again, moved into financial analysis to look at it from a different perspective,” Zion tells Birr. “Yes, it definitely met my expectations; enjoyed it immensely.”
To learn more, contact the United Way.
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