Technically, Jan Ballard wasn”t required to be at her desk Saturday, but she”s never “off” — not really. As executive director of the United Way of Lowndes County, Ballard spends a great deal of time behind the scenes, making phone calls, sending emails, writing grants, and thinking of new ways to help the 18 local agencies her organization serves.
Saturday, Ballard was busy applying for a grant from Weyerhaeser. The grant, if she receives it, will supplement employee contributions with additional funds. But in order to prove eligibility, Ballard must provide detailed documentation of how the money will be spent.
It”s the same type of information she requires from the agencies United Way assists — a system of checks and balances that makes certain every dollar goes where it should.
This year”s fundraising campaign officially runs Sept. 1 through Thanksgiving, but the monetary goal has not yet been determined. Last year, United Way of Lowndes County raised $500,000 — $100,000 less than its campaign goal.
That”s on par with what the agency has typically raised every year since 2001.
The recession hasn”t helped matters. Charitable contributions are down, but community need is greater than ever.
As Ballard drives through town, she looks at derelict properties and wonders if anyone is living there. Do the residents have electricity? Do they have food? Are the homeowners about to lose their home? What about the children?
These are the types of questions United Way partners try to answer.
Where does the money go?
“These days, people have every right to be concerned about where their contributions go,” Ballard said Saturday. “Ninety-nine percent of the contributions we raise stay here in Lowndes County.”
Because each of the 1,300 United Way offices around the country are autonomously operated and made up of local volunteers, each branch is able to choose which agencies — and issues — it will support.
Those issues vary from community to community depending on the area”s values and needs. For example, Ballard said, the local branch has chosen not to fund programs that promote or provide abortion.
That agencies are funded and who gets the money is determined by a 12-member executive committee and a 30-member board.
“We”re each unique to our own community,” Ballard said. “What might be fitting in another community might not fit here.”
In Lowndes County, 31 percent of the money goes to agencies aiding in local crisis intervention and disaster relief. Those agencies are: The American Red Cross, the CONTACT suicide prevention and crisis hotline, 24-Hour First Call for Help, Community Resource Connection, which helps with emergency housing for the homeless; Helping Hands, which provides emergency assistance with mortgage, rent, prescription medicine, food, and utilities, and disaster relief; and the Salvation Army.
Twenty-eight percent of local funds are dedicated to agencies helping children, including the Pushmataha Area Council of the Boy Scouts, the Boys and Girls Club, Columbus Air Force Base Youth Center, 4-H Clubs of Lowndes County and Girl Scouts of Northeast Mississippi.
About 21 percent of funding supports health and quality of life issues. Agencies receiving funds in this area are CONTACT Helpline”s elderly and disabled program, Dial-A-Bus, which provides transportation for the elderly and disabled; Home-Delivered Meals, and the YMCA.
The remaining 20 percent of local donations are allotted to the following agencies: Greater Columbus Learning Center, Recovery House, Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, and the Community Volunteer Center.
Throughout the year, Ballard stays in touch with the agencies, making sure their financial needs are being met and seeing what else they need. For example, during several recent disasters, United Way of Lowndes County provided $150,000 in supplemental funds to help organizations like Dial-A Bus, which was being used for disaster relief.
“By and large, for most of (the agencies), United Way is a major portion of their financial resources,” Ballard said. “We have a few agencies that couldn”t keep their doors open without United Way funding.”
The Pushmataha Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America is one of those organizations highly dependent upon United Way funding.
Curtis Hollingsworth, operations coordinator, said without their financial support, many underprivileged children wouldn”t be able to participate in Scouting.
“With the economy the way it is, it”s definitely critical that people understand the widespread services United Way brings to the community,” Hollingsworth said. “Not only do they support the programs, but they ask the programs to network with each other to get a bigger bang for the buck.”
Challenges and triumphs
Because United Way is heavily dependent upon corporate giving, Ballard said, the loss of major local industries like Domtar, which closed last year, and Artesia”s Holcim cement plant, which closed in 2009, has taken a toll.
Over the past few years, as people in the community are faced with losing jobs and income, crisis intervention has become even a bigger part of United Way”s focus.
Every day, Ballard sees worthy agencies she just can”t help, because there”s not enough money to go around. For those groups, she tries to garner small community grants.
“Day in and day out, our agencies are out there working while I”m at my desk, trying to raise funds for them,” she said.
She”s proud of the success stories.
Amid a round of layoffs, Ceco Building Systems raised more in employee donations than in previous years.
Marilyn Agnew, who serves as this year”s United Way campaign co-chairman, brought the Columbus Municipal School District”s employee contributions up from $6,600 a few years ago to $80,150 last year.
It”s all part of the bigger picture for Ballard, who said she feels led by God to serve others.
“God pretty much led me all the way, even when I didn”t always see what the direction was,” Ballard said. “Our agencies really serve people who are in true need, reaching a lot of people who might fall between the cracks.”
How to help
If you”d like to volunteer with United Way, please call Emily Williams, Volunteer Center project coordinator, at 327-0807.
If you”d like to donate, or find out how to involve your company in the United Way”s fall fundraising campaign, please call Jan Ballard at 328-0943
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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