CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

United Way temporarily suspends payments to agencies

The Daily Dispatch - 10/14/2017

Oct. 14--Citing a decline in charitable donations in recent years, the United Way of Vance County board of directors announced that it is temporarily suspending payments to the agencies it helps support. According to a statement released by the board Thursday, "United Way of Vance County is currently experiencing a similar decline in donations and fulfillment of pledges, which has impacted the organization's financial position."

The board of directors is reviewing the organization's budget and financial obligations, the statement continued. "During this period of review, the Board will temporarily suspend grant payments to the United Way agencies in Warren and Vance counties."

"The Board is confident that we will find satisfactory solutions to our financial concerns," said board chairwoman Heather Hughes in the prepared statement. "We want to assure the community and our local agencies that we hope to resume grant payments very soon."

The Daily Dispatch publisher, Nancy Wykle, sits on the United Way of Vance County board of directors.

In a telephone interview with The Daily Dispatch, Hughes said the board has implemented a reduction in force due to the financial situation. United Way will operate without a staff for what Hughes said she hopes is a temporary period. The local staff consists of Nancy Gray, executive director, and Jennifer Sawyer, communications director.

Closing the office space on Dabney Drive is also a possibility, Hughes said.

She had no comment on the size of the budget shortfall or what specific strategies the board is considering for improving United Way's financial circumstances.

Past President Terri Hedrick met on Friday with agencies receiving funds from United Way to inform them that grant allocations have been temporarily suspended.

Garry Daeke represented FGV Smart Start at the meeting. He told The Daily Dispatch later that United Way funds 100 children participating in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a project that mails a book each month to children from the time they are born until they reach age five. He was not certain how that obligation will be met while United Way funds are suspended.

"When United Way suffers, it tells you a lot about what's happening in the county," he said.

Lee Anne Peoples, director of ACTS, said her organization stopped receiving monthly checks from United Way some time back in the summer. United Way funding is important, she said. "It will certainly impact us, but we have other sources of support."

Melissa Elliott, director of Gang Free, one of the organizations receiving United Way funds, described the meeting as resembling a funeral.

"I told them, 'God will make a way,'" she said. "United Way has done great things in the community."

Her organization received a United Way payment of $416 each month until a short time ago, she said. "I hope this story will inspire people to give."

Donations to United Way of Vance County support organizations serving Vance County and (in one case) Warren County. The 10 organizations receiving funds from United Way of Vance County include Area Christians Together In Service (ACTS); Addiction Recovery Center for Men; Community Partners of Hope, Inc.; FGV Smart Start; Gang Free, Inc.; Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (Vance County); Legal Aid of North Carolina; Life Line Outreach, Inc.; S.a.M. Child Advocacy Center; and Warren County Senior Center.

___

(c)2017 Henderson Daily Dispatch, N.C.

Visit Henderson Daily Dispatch, N.C. at www.hendersondispatch.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.