Heartland United Way launches four-as-one campaign
By Tracy Overstreet
The Heartland United Way launched its 2015-16 campaign on Wednesday with a $1.45 million goal. “The campaign is a lot different this year,” board Chairwoman Alison Larson told a gathering of United way staff, agency heads and community leaders. “More now than ever before, we’re focused on helping all the people in the communities of Hall, Hamilton, Howard and Merrick counties, and the campaign is a direct reflection of those efforts.”
“Welcome to our first four-as-one event,” said Hall County campaign chairman Ron Depue, who spoke via a recorded voice message as he was in California. Depue said this year’s campaign really focuses on the power of teamwork. The Heartland United Way has long served the four counties, he said, but this year it wanted to pull all four together to accomplish one unified fundraising goal.
Heartland United Way President Karen Rathke said a campaign chairman was recruited in each of the four counties and asked to pull together a county team. That team also will work on distributing a $10,000 grant that the United Way is giving each county to use as each sees fit to address unmet needs.
Depue, a Grand Island attorney, will be joined by campaign chairs Joe Mlinar in Howard County, a State Farm insurance agent; Jayne Mann in Hamilton County, general manager of Wortman Enterprises; and Aaron Kunz, deputy Merrick County attorney and owner of Dairy Queen in Central City.
Mlinar joked that the four-as-one campaign could also refer to Wednesday’s four campaign stops. Campaign supporters had breakfast in Grand Island at the United Way offices on Webb Road. At 11:30 a.m., the group moved to Aurora with a lunch tailgate party hosted at the Bremer Community Center.
The kickoff celebration continued from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in Central City, where Kunz and his crew provided free Dilly Bars. It wrapped up at 5 p.m. in St. Paul at the Sixth Street V-Inn-U for a supper tailgate featuring homemade sloppy joes. The tailgate in Howard County also served as a community announcement for how the Howard County campaign committee planned to use the county’s $10,000 grant — for providing mental health help and assisting youth, Mlinar said. “Be involved,” he said.
Rathke said the United Way also set a “bold goal.” In recent years, it has worked on three priority areas of improving the income, health and education of the four-county area. But this year will focus on how United Way member agencies can deliver programming and services in those three areas to “decrease childhood poverty to give children a chance and families a future.”
“We know that all children really are behind the eight-ball when born to a family who’s living in poverty,” Rathke said, noting that 29 percent of Hall County children age 19 and under live in poverty.
Rathke said the United Way committees will be working on special issues of housing, transportation, a workforce initiative for veterans and avoiding risky behaviors, including addressing human trafficking and teen pregnancy.
“If we can get fewer teens having babies, than we eliminate two living in poverty right off the bat,” Rathke said.
Hall County currently has a teen pregnancy rate nearly double the state average, she said.
Rathke said the Heartland United Way is excited about the campaign and the alignment it brings with all stakeholders.
“This isn’t just about the nonprofits taking this on. This is about access to the education system, the churches, the businesses. You have all these families that you’re employing,” Rathke said. “Where can we have touch points … to make a bigger impact?”
A Hall County report card on income, health and education was also distributed at the Grand Island meeting.
Through early donations, Mann said, the campaign is already at the 28 percent mark.
The $1.45 million goal is down slightly from the $1.575 million goal in 2014 and the $1.55 million goal in 2013.
Hall County report card: The Heartland United Way has been working on income, health and education initiatives, but more needs to be done. The following Hall County data was distributed at the campaign kickoff on Wednesday in Grand Island.
Income, Hall County, Nebraska average
Unemployment, 3.5%, 3.2%
People below poverty, 13.7%, 12.4%
Children under 6 below poverty, 23%, 19.6%
Children on free and reduced-price meals, 55%, 40.32%
On food stamps, 11.4%, 8.5%
Median household income, $48,044, $51,381
Median income for workers, $25,704, $27,948
Health, Hall County, Nebraska average
Obesity rate, 31%, 29%
Adult smoking, 17%, 18%
Excessive drinking, 18%, 20%
Physical inactivity, 27%, 25%
Teen pregnancy, 58 per 1,000, 33 per 1,000
Uninsured, 17%, 13%
Children in Medicaid and CHIP, 41%, 31%
Education, Hall County, Nebraska average
Adults with high school diploma, 82.8%, 90.4%
Adults with bachelor’s or higher, 16.8%, 28.1%
Nebraska high school graduation rate 88.47%
Doniphan-Trumbull 96.88%
Grand Island Northwest 94.67%
Grand Island Senior High 86.99%
Wood River 92%
Third-grade reading proficiency in Nebraska 77%
1-R 85%
Cedar Hollow 65%
Chapman 67%
Dodge 71%
Doniphan-Trumbull 74%
Engleman 83%
Gates 82%
Howard 63%
Jefferson 64%
Knickrehm 74%
Lincoln 37%
Newell 63%
Seedling Mile 82%
Shoemaker 71%
Starr 43%
St. Libory 64%
Stolley Park 83%
Wasmer 89%
West Lawn 63%
Wood River 71%