2024 in Review
Many people who donate to United Way of Southeast Missouri may not have a full understanding of all we do and the role each member of our small team plays. This is due, in part, because we do so much! And only part of what we do is out in the community. Much of the work we do is behind the scenes and focuses on raising funds to keep up the work that is so critical to Southeast Missouri.
Although our budget doesn’t afford an event planner, this small team spends an inordinate amount of time planning educational events just to inform our community, learn about needs, and get feedback on our ideas to help. These include our Get on the Bus tours to visit partners in our network, Community Conversations on transportation and childcare, participation in Project Hope and nonprofit volunteer fairs, and attending countless meetings held by partners, other social service organizations, and civic groups to stay informed and offer input.
We must also plan and host fundraisers, including our 37th annual golf tournament. Unfortunately, this turned out to be our only fundraising event for the year, as we had to cancel our 70th Birthday Carnival. Mark Stone manages all of our workplace campaigns and donor engagement events, including the golf tournament. You may recall that Mark came to us on a grant, and we have since joyfully brought him onto our payroll. We hope to do the same with Matt Ellison, whom we welcomed at the beginning of 2024.
Matt is funded by an AmeriCorps grant to lead our childcare initiative and manage our workforce transportation program, United We Work. Weeks of our time, if not months, are spent researching and writing grants to fund our work. Matt and Elizabeth devoted much of November and December to writing four more grants we hope will help fund these initiatives.
The other members of our team are equally busy. Donna Noe oversees all operations, which include reports to United Way Worldwide, payments to vendors and partners, recording donations, and many unseen tasks that keep our organization humming. Robin Koetting celebrated 8 years in 2024 as our Read to Succeed Program Manager. She saw us through COVID and has grown the program to four Cape elementary schools and to the Boys & Girls Club. Denise Wimp celebrated 25 years as the Director of First Call For help. Every year she single-handedly helps more than 2000 people throughout Southeast Missouri, while sharing her wealth of wisdom with us and our network.
Ciera Schlie just completed her first year as our part-time Marketing Coordinator, having generously helped us for two years prior as an AmeriCorps VISTA. If you’ve noticed a dip in social media posts and other communications, it’s because Ciera has been relishing her new role of mother to a beautiful baby boy and will return to us in January. (Hallelujah!)
I wanted to share this information because it is so important for you–our donors and volunteers—to have a full understanding of the work we do and this small team doing it. It is critical for you to see how vital your contributions are to all we do. Whether you give your time or treasure (hopefully, both!), please keep giving! We truly could not do the work we do without you! Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of just how critical you are to keeping us—and those who depend on us—going. If you know someone who wants to help, please share this newsletter and encourage them to subscribe. We need more great people like YOU!
We wish you a healthy, happy 2025.
