Chenango United Way shares funding overview at annual celebration
NORWICH – Chenango United Way shared an overview of its 2019 campaign results and other details about the organizations and initiatives it supports at its annual celebration breakfast Thursday morning at the Canasawacta Country Club.
Chenango United Way (CUW) Board Chair Rebecca Hargrave said 2018 was "both a stressful and successful year" and despite a bit of a challenging campaign, they pulled through in the end. She said 2018 marked the end of CUW's five year plan and shared some of the points of interest in their new plan.
"We have some new goals in our plan that include things like increasing the awareness of the Chenango United Way, improving our internal and external communications with the community and our partners, to increase engagement of our board members and volunteers that are partner agencies with the Chenango United Way, to increase funding as we always do through campaign as well as through grants for some special projects, and to work on our internal policies and governments," said Hargrave.
She added that one of the overarching themes for their goals is to support the ALICE population: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed individuals.
"This is a group of hard working citizens that are often overlooked when it comes to support because they’re above the poverty level," said Hargrave. "But they’re often one emergency away from being in a dire situation."
She said many of the programs funded by the CUW's annual campaign work with and support the ALICE population. Following Hargrave, CUW 2018 campaign co-chairs Kelly Collins-Colosi and Nick Colosi presented the results of last year's campaign at the breakfast, which raised $405,651 to fund 20 programs in Chenango County.
Collins-Colosi said, "We were proud to have 1,217 givers. 65 percent of our donations do come from the employee payroll campaign, that's a huge program and a huge support. 14 of our companies met or exceeded what they raised in 2017, so that's amazing work by those companies. We're just really, really proud of that."
Colosi added it is thanks to those internal captains from local companies that the CUW was able to support over 20 programs and 14 food panties and and soup kitchens.
CUW Community Impact Committee Chair Karen Sastri and CUW Executive Director Elizabeth Monaco presented a breakdown of all of the organizations and programs that were funded by the campaign dollars, including the amount and a description of how the funds were used.
Sastri said the Community Impact Committee has the privilege of preparing and enhancing the process by which CUW awards the dollars donated by the community.
"We have three buckets that we focus on when we think about how to award our dollars: health, financial stability, and education," said Sastri. "Those are the primary ones."
$101,319 was awarded to programs in the health category, $87,846 in the financial stability category, and $90,231 in the education category. Other dollars were allocated for things like CUW community impact initiatives, like foster care bags and the Chenango Dental Task Force, the CUW's 2-1-1 information and referral hotline, and Greater Chenango Cares IRT returning to Norwich this July.
Monaco said for two weeks this July, the IRT (Innovative Readiness Training) will return to Norwich middle and high school to provide no cost medical, dental, vision, and veterinary care to the community. She said the CUW is working to be the lead agency for facilitating the event, and also to be the lead volunteer coordinator for the event.
"We’re excited because the last time they were here in 2016 we served 1800 families with their medical needs," said Monaco. "And we know that more and more families are struggling particularly with dental and vision support because of being underinsured."
She told attendees to be on the lookout for volunteer sign ups, after noting they anticipate needing somewhere between 200 and 300 volunteers, and also for notices on other ways to support the event.
Monaco honored three people at the celebration for their work with CUW. Longtime board member Terra Carnrike-Granata was recognized, after leaving the board in January. Student intern and longtime volunteer Marissa Mitchell was also honored, along with volunteer photographer Kaitlin Korver.
In wrapping up the celebration, Monaco introduced the 2019 campaign co-chairs: John and Marcia Watt. John H. Watt, Jr. is President and CEO of NBT Bank, and was not able to attend the celebration. Marcia spoke on their behalf.
"John and I are really looking forward to the year ahead and kicking-off the 2019 campaign in the fall," said Marcia Watt. "We're both really excited about the work that the United Way is doing, and then all of the agencies and organizations. We’re just proud to be able to support this work and we want to thank all of those who are doing this work because I think as the presentation shows, it’s making a big difference."
Pictured: Several local organizations, including supporters and beneficiaries of the Chenango United Way's campaign, were in attendance at the annual celebration breakfast held on Thursday. Pictured here, Jerri Webb, Nick Colosi, Deb Barker, John Antonowicz, Becky Graham, Marcia Watt, Karen Sastri, Terra Carnrike-Granata, Robert Woodcock, Stacie Knapp, and Melissa Stagnaro. In front, CUW Business Manager Victoria Mitchell and CUW Executive Director Elizabeth Monaco. (Grady Thompson)
Chenango United Way (CUW) Board Chair Rebecca Hargrave said 2018 was "both a stressful and successful year" and despite a bit of a challenging campaign, they pulled through in the end. She said 2018 marked the end of CUW's five year plan and shared some of the points of interest in their new plan.
"We have some new goals in our plan that include things like increasing the awareness of the Chenango United Way, improving our internal and external communications with the community and our partners, to increase engagement of our board members and volunteers that are partner agencies with the Chenango United Way, to increase funding as we always do through campaign as well as through grants for some special projects, and to work on our internal policies and governments," said Hargrave.
She added that one of the overarching themes for their goals is to support the ALICE population: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed individuals.
"This is a group of hard working citizens that are often overlooked when it comes to support because they’re above the poverty level," said Hargrave. "But they’re often one emergency away from being in a dire situation."
She said many of the programs funded by the CUW's annual campaign work with and support the ALICE population. Following Hargrave, CUW 2018 campaign co-chairs Kelly Collins-Colosi and Nick Colosi presented the results of last year's campaign at the breakfast, which raised $405,651 to fund 20 programs in Chenango County.
Collins-Colosi said, "We were proud to have 1,217 givers. 65 percent of our donations do come from the employee payroll campaign, that's a huge program and a huge support. 14 of our companies met or exceeded what they raised in 2017, so that's amazing work by those companies. We're just really, really proud of that."
Colosi added it is thanks to those internal captains from local companies that the CUW was able to support over 20 programs and 14 food panties and and soup kitchens.
CUW Community Impact Committee Chair Karen Sastri and CUW Executive Director Elizabeth Monaco presented a breakdown of all of the organizations and programs that were funded by the campaign dollars, including the amount and a description of how the funds were used.
Sastri said the Community Impact Committee has the privilege of preparing and enhancing the process by which CUW awards the dollars donated by the community.
"We have three buckets that we focus on when we think about how to award our dollars: health, financial stability, and education," said Sastri. "Those are the primary ones."
$101,319 was awarded to programs in the health category, $87,846 in the financial stability category, and $90,231 in the education category. Other dollars were allocated for things like CUW community impact initiatives, like foster care bags and the Chenango Dental Task Force, the CUW's 2-1-1 information and referral hotline, and Greater Chenango Cares IRT returning to Norwich this July.
Monaco said for two weeks this July, the IRT (Innovative Readiness Training) will return to Norwich middle and high school to provide no cost medical, dental, vision, and veterinary care to the community. She said the CUW is working to be the lead agency for facilitating the event, and also to be the lead volunteer coordinator for the event.
"We’re excited because the last time they were here in 2016 we served 1800 families with their medical needs," said Monaco. "And we know that more and more families are struggling particularly with dental and vision support because of being underinsured."
She told attendees to be on the lookout for volunteer sign ups, after noting they anticipate needing somewhere between 200 and 300 volunteers, and also for notices on other ways to support the event.
Monaco honored three people at the celebration for their work with CUW. Longtime board member Terra Carnrike-Granata was recognized, after leaving the board in January. Student intern and longtime volunteer Marissa Mitchell was also honored, along with volunteer photographer Kaitlin Korver.
In wrapping up the celebration, Monaco introduced the 2019 campaign co-chairs: John and Marcia Watt. John H. Watt, Jr. is President and CEO of NBT Bank, and was not able to attend the celebration. Marcia spoke on their behalf.
"John and I are really looking forward to the year ahead and kicking-off the 2019 campaign in the fall," said Marcia Watt. "We're both really excited about the work that the United Way is doing, and then all of the agencies and organizations. We’re just proud to be able to support this work and we want to thank all of those who are doing this work because I think as the presentation shows, it’s making a big difference."
Pictured: Several local organizations, including supporters and beneficiaries of the Chenango United Way's campaign, were in attendance at the annual celebration breakfast held on Thursday. Pictured here, Jerri Webb, Nick Colosi, Deb Barker, John Antonowicz, Becky Graham, Marcia Watt, Karen Sastri, Terra Carnrike-Granata, Robert Woodcock, Stacie Knapp, and Melissa Stagnaro. In front, CUW Business Manager Victoria Mitchell and CUW Executive Director Elizabeth Monaco. (Grady Thompson)
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