By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph United Way volunteers will spend the next seven weeks meeting with partner agencies, figuring out how best to allocate funds from the upcoming fall campaign.
Allocations committee co-chair Doug Walter, who is also pastor at Ashland United Methodist Church, says he got involved as a United Way volunteer about five years ago, when he moved to St. Joseph to become the pastor at Ashland.
"United Way just makes such a difference in our community, it was a great way to get to know some people outside of my congregation, as well as get to know some of the agencies in town, and what they did," Walter tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And just get a greater understanding of what that looks like in our community."
Walter says through being on the allocations committee he's learned specifically what some of the United Ways partner agencies do.
"This is a real inside look," Walter explains. "We sit down with each organization, they make a presentation, we go over all the financial information so that we know donors to United Way are making a solid investment."
Walter adds the allocations process helps give accountability to those organizations.
"Are they doing what they say they're doing? And what is the impact they're having on the community, and are they bein financially responsible?" Walter asks.
Walter says if they can see both of those things it helps as they make recommendations of where to invest those funds.
Walter says he can understand why some people might think that it's pre-determined where the United Way allocates funds too.
But Walter says the way he describes it too people all comes back to the question of why he volunteers for the committee
"I think being able to articulate for people, you know, the desire to really make a difference in our community often times has been the invitation for them," Walter says. "Some people are donors and they really have a curiosity of how that process takes place and some really haven't decided yet."
Walter adds that describing why he volunteers is also an opportunity to convince someone to make an investment and donate to United Way.
The United Ways 2022 fundraising campaign will kick off this falVo
