LAWRENCE COUNTY United Way fund drive gets off to a good start

A higher fund-raising goal was set to make up for shrinking government contributions and rising costs.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The United Way of Lawrence County started its 2001 fund-raising campaign with some money in the bank.
Officials said Monday, the first day of campaigning, that they were at 17 percent of their $720,000 goal.
Gayle Young, UW executive director, said about $80,000 was donated by four Lawrence County companies and money raised from an annual summer golf outing.
"It's the most we've ever started out with in a campaign," Young said.
The United Way is an umbrella nonprofit agency that funnels services and money to other nonprofit county groups. Among those organizations that receive money from the Lawrence County United Way's annual fund-raising campaign are the area Girl and Boy Scout groups, the New Castle City Rescue Mission, Lawrence County 4-H, American Red Cross and the Hospice at St. Francis.
Increased goal: Young said the 2001 campaign goal is a 5 percent increase over the $685,676 raised last year.
Yearly donors will be asked to increase contributions by at least 10 percent to help this year's campaign goal, she said.
"We are also trying to get people who haven't supported the United Way in the past to start supporting us," she said.
Young is contacting companies who have not had United Way fund-raising campaigns for their workers in the past. Most will be asked to donate $1 per pay to the United Way, she said.
Young noted that the United Way needs to increase its goal each year to make up for rising costs and shrinking government contributions to the nonprofit groups.