The Heart of Illinois United Way announced Wed. it’s raised more $8.5 million so far in its annual campaign. That’s a slight decrease from $8.8 million this time last fall.
Still, 2016 Campaign Co-Chair Katie McCord Jenkins called the update, “good news” for the community.
“People are really tapping into this message that we have people in need in our community,” McCord Jenkins said. “Funding from state and federal is not what it was, and in order to keep our community strong, we’ve got to be unified and come together.”
United Way says 45 of the health and human services agencies it supports have collectively lost more than $15 million in state and federal grants in the past three years.
McCord Jenkins says funds raised by the campaign support 87 different human service programs in the region that impacts 100-thousand people.
One of those initiatives, Success By 6, provides books to Head Start students, who are then encouraged to read at home.
Tazewell-Woodford Head Start’s executive director, Bonnie Jones, says as a result of that program, she’s seen an increase in parents participating in their children's learning.
“So they get to work and earn their way here, and that feels very good,” Jones said. “So it’s bigger than a little book, it’s so much bigger that.”
The results of this year’s campaign are scheduled to be made public on January 31st 2017, McCord Jenkins said.
Last year’s campaign raised a total $11.63 million dollars for programs in Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, Stark, Marshall and Putnam counties.