Tour of Agencies promotes local nonprofits’ causes

Posted: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 9:43 pm

By Robert Pore

 

On Tuesday, the annual Tour of Agencies gave a cross-section of people from the community the opportunity to visit and listen to representatives of the 16 agencies served by the Heartland United Way.

Fifty-two people participated in this year’s tour.

 

Karen Rathke, president of the Heartland United Way, said the tour is a “great opportunity for education and awareness of all the great things that happen with the United Way.”

“We have a really nice cross section of people attending,” said Rathke. “Some are business representatives that are interested in seeing their dollars in action. JBS has 12 interns that will be working with JBS this summer and who will be helping with the United Way campaign out there. We have campaign volunteers. We have community representatives of other programs that want to learn more about how their program can work together with all the other agencies.”

She said the Tour of Agencies helps connect the agencies served by the Heartland United Way with interested community participants in preparation for the fall fund drive that raises money for those agencies. Last year, nearly $1.5 million was raised by the Heartland United Way for the agencies it serves.

 

“People want to learn more about the issues impacting these agencies,” Rathke said. “What we hear most is that they really want to hear more — all the good things that are happening and why they need to happen. It is a way for them to get involved and to see their dollars in action and meet the people who have been impacted the most.”

An application process is in place for nonprofit agencies to partner with the Heartland United Way.

“Those have been set for a while, but we are looking to do some different things next fall in broadening the number of organizations that might benefit from the United Way funding,” she said.

Rathke said the Heartland United Way has a goal to tackle childhood poverty.

 

“We need to bring traditional and nontraditional partners to the table to really address it in a way that we think will have the most impact for children and to help them be successful in our community,” she said. “We need the school system, the businesses, the faith-based and more volunteers and programs that are looking at children’s success through a different lens. Those will certainly involve our traditional partners but it might involve some untraditional partners as we look to deliver upon programs that we feel really help give children a chance and their families a future.”

 

And the Tour of Agencies is one of the ways to achieve those long-term goals of tackling childhood poverty.

“This recruits the people who can help tell the story of the United Way and what we are trying to do and why we are trying to do it and hopefully become involved and become ambassadors for the United Way,” Rathke said.

One of the agencies visited during the tour was Heartland CASA, which is one of the many agencies that the Heartland United Way supports in its drive to eliminate childhood poverty.

Heartland CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) supports abused and neglected children in the court system through recruiting and training informed, caring volunteers who speak for the children. Founded in 1995, CASA serves Hall, Hamilton, Howard, and Merrick counties. It is a member of the National CASA Association and the Nebraska CASA Association.

 

In 2015, Heartland CASA served 61 children with 21 CASA volunteers. It also served families through Project Jumpstart and youths through Project Everlast. CASA’s vision is to “champion the needs of abused and neglected children in Hall, Hamilton, Howard and Merrick counties, including foremost, a safe and permanent home.”

 

Tour participants saw a short video about CASA and Amy Bennett, Heartland CASA executive director, gave them a short briefing on the services CASA provides.

Bennett has been executive director for five years. The annual tours are important for CASA as it helps educate and inform the public about the services they provide, she said.

“It is a huge advantage because so many people are not aware of what CASA does or what CASA stands for so, for us, it is an opportunity that we are able to educate community members about who we are, what we do and the important work of our agency,” Bennett said.

The tours have also helped as Bennett said they have been able to recruit CASA volunteers who had been a part of the Tour of Agencies.

 

“This is also an opportunity for people to know the work we do and the volunteer opportunities they can serve as an advocate for children,” she said.

Bennett said United Way is what helps CASA keep its doors open.

 

“We’ve received approximately $41,000 a year as part of it for our CASA program and part of it is for our Project Jumpstart, which works for families who have entered the system due to substance abuse allegations, and the money really helps us do the work that we need to do,” she said. “Without it, I don’t know what we would do.”