The Impact of Donations to the United Way

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) -

Today’s telethon in Partnership with the United Way will go on to benefit and fund dozens of programs throughout Aroostook county, and your donation can go on to make a lasting impact.

“United Way is always doing telethons for everyone else, so I’m going to get a little emotional. They are always the first one to say let’s do a telethon to help, whether it’s with heating or with you feed the county with Dixie, we’re involved in all of those. This year, they need a little extra help so they could help all of the programs like our program at Adopt-A-Block.” says Tammy Goetsch – Director, Adopt-A-Block of Aroostook.

“We really need your help. We’re really seeing kind of a decline and we’re doing everything possible to cut costs and try to transfer programs, to have partners and assistance. And work and collaborate so we can keep those keep that going” says Sarah Duncan – Executive Director, United Way of Aroostook.

“Your support goes a long way in the county and it makes a huge difference.” says Kelley Fitzpatrick – Manger of Nutrition Services, Aroostook Agency on Aging

“So United Way has been one of our sponsors for several years now. They generously Support us with a matching grant, so this is a federal grant program and we are required to have a 30% match. So for every dollar that we receive from United Way. It triples our federal award that we can receive back. So it’s very, very important for us.” says Judy Anderson – Director of Comm. & Volunteer Services, Aroostook RSVP.

“You know that that money that you give is going right back into your communities in this. Aroostook County, which is. A big county, lots of needs.” says Goetsch.

“Every one of united ways donation when you see the boxes somewhere, they’re going back to an Aroostook county family. The other organizations that ship overseas and everywhere else are amazing, but if you are looking to keep your donations local, this is the place.” says Hillary Hallett – Board Member, United Way of Aroostook.

“So working with the different agencies throughout Aroostook County that are already doing all that good work. We are helping them Continue that. That’s why it’s important to give to the United Way because of the help that we give back to the agencies that are helping the community.” says Kelly Landeen – General Manager, WAGM

“One thing that’s really special about our United Way is we’re the only United Way, maybe in the country that does not take an administrative fee from people’s donations. When you donate and designate we’re not taking a part to administer that donation. We’re doing it because we want every single penny of your donation to go right to where you want it to go.” says Duncan.

“People don’t understand. They think you know, if we get $100,000 at a telethon, we get part of that money. We do not Get any of that money.” says Sue Watson – Finance Administrator, United Way of Aroostook.

“If you’re skeptical, if you don’t know what we do if. You’re concerned with, you know. One of our partners or something like that call us. We’re happy to explain. We want as much transparency as possible. We’ll tell you how many dollars we give out. We’ll tell you exactly where it goes and how it’s used.” says Chris Carrol – Board Member, United Way of Aroostook.

“We do need the support. There’s so many untouched areas that we really want to help solve. We really want to help solve housing. We really want to help solve homelessness. We want to make a bigger impact, and we’re going to be spending the whole spring really create. Coming up with what’s our next big idea? How can we reach more people? And we’re going to need everybody’s support to be able to do that.” says Duncan.

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