Advertisement

The campaign which began in the fall and was extended until the end of December because of lagging donations, ended at $168,800. The figure is $6800 short of last year's total and $16,800 short of the $185,000 goal.

"Considering where we were a few short weeks ago, I'm overwhelmingly pleased," said Kent France, executive director of the United Way. "There was a point at which we were thirty to thirty-five thousand dollars behind, and I just wasn't sure what would happen."

Thousands of dollars came in after an all-out campaign in the news media. The United Way also sent out a second mailing to previous givers and made hundreds of reminder phone calls.

"All of our hard work paid off," stated board member Dixie Knuth of Croswell. "The citizens of Sanilac County came through when we needed them. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

France stated that donations ranged from five dollars to five thousand dollars.

"In addition to the many long time givers who sent in extra money, we received a fair amount from first-time givers who read about our plight. There were also a number of people who live elsewhere but have summer homes here that sent donations. The majority alluded to how much they liked Sanilac County and hoped that their donation would help." Also, several foundations sent in donations, and many workers at area businesses renewed their payroll deductions.

"A key component to this effort was our local media. All of the newspapers gave us outstanding coverage and WMIC-WTGV could not have been more helpful. People mentioned that they had heard about our troubles on the radio and some cut out articles from the newspapers and sent them with their checks," France stated.

"We do expect more donations to come in, but we feel we can now begin the process of allocating funds to our 23 agencies," said board member Art Birdsall, Port Sanilac. "No doubt cuts will need to be made as will adjustments in some budgets, but we are much better off than we thought we would be."

"We won't do final budget figures until the end of January and allocations will be set during the first week of February," said France. "Any donations sent between now and then will be added to our total and will be disbursed to agencies." Donations may be mailed to The United Way of Sanilac County, P.O. Box 245, Lexington, MI 48450.

The United Way funds twenty-three agencies: Eva's Place, Safe Horizons, H.E.L.P., Inc., the Salvation Army, Big Brothers Big Sisters, United Hospice Services, American Red Cross, Personal Growth Center, Catholic Family Services, Goodwill Industries, Lakeshore Legal Aid, Eastern Michigan Legal Services, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Sanilac Child Abuse Prevention Council, 4-H Council, Mid Thumb Habitat for Humanity, Literacy Council, the Harbor, Kid's Connection, Blue Water Center for Independent Living, Foster Grandparents, and the Alzheimer's Association.