The crowd at Lion Hills Center erupts into thunderous applause as United Way of Lowndes and Noxubee Counties Executive Director Renee Sanders proudly announces the organization gave a total of $677,237 to community organizations during 2022.
“United Way does not do a direct service,” Sanders said. “This is why it is so important for us to connect to these agencies. We supply resources.”
The crowd was gathered for the first United Way Annual Meeting since 2019, and the dining hall was packed.
Incoming board president Jay Fisher, who was presented with the gavel by outgoing president, Marti Kauffman, said the organization bases its activities off of the “Three Vs.”
“Visible, Vital, Vested,” he said. “Those three words are short versions of the mission statement of United Way of Lowndes and Noxubee. … We want to be visible. We want people to know of the work we do at United Way. We want to be vital to the people that need support and the people that are looking for opportunities to give and to serve. And we want to be vested. That means being involved in our community in ways that make meaningful change.”
The allocations to local agencies are the main way United Way enacts that strategy.
In addition to the annual allocations, which went to 15 local agencies and totaled more than $261,000, the organization also gave one-time donations and mini grants to additional agencies.
A total of $51,000, leftover from a reimbursement grant from the CREATE Foundation, was awarded to five agencies: Saving Grace, Imagination Library, Noxubee Diabetes Coalition, Hope Family Enrichment Center in Noxubee County and FORGE.
More than $61,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for COVID-19 relief, given to United Way by county governments, were used for a series of mini grants to various organizations.
“We made a conscious decision, this past year, to pass out a lot of mini grants to organizations that we traditionally have not supported in our full annual appropriations,” Fisher said. “We asked those organizations if they would come forward and present packages to be considered.”
The organizations included: Avenue of Hope in Noxubee; Boys and Girls Club; Clark Recreation of Noxubee County; Columbus Fire and Rescue; Columbus Housing Authority; Community Benefit Committee; Contact Helpline; Dream Center Golden Triangle; First James Creek Baptist Association; Golden Triangle Business Women; Happy Irby Christmas Fund; Helping Hands; Reclaiming our Youth; Sallie Kate Winters; SOAR; Special Needs-Special Spirit; The Salvation Army; Von’s Soul Food and Catering; and Written Decision.
The funds had to be used to address everyday emergencies such as rent security, utilities, mortgage and diapers, to name a few.
The organization also saw 2,400 individual volunteers in 2022.
Expansion
While 2022 saw an increase in United Way’s funding impact, it also brought news of expansion.
“We knew that we were going to expand our services, and we were going to have to be inclusive of Oktibbeha, Winston, Webster and Choctaw,” Sanders said. “… We just took baby steps. Instead of trying to get them all at once, we gave them the opportunity to apply.”
The group picked up a total of three organizations in Oktibbeha and Webster counties during 2022.
“We still have Winston and Choctaw that we have to start building relationships with, and that means I have got to go find funders,” Sanders said.
Fisher added that more news would be coming soon.
“There are big things ahead,” he said. “I can’t talk about all of them today, but keep your antennas up, we have some exciting new announcements that will be forthcoming.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
