The United Way of LaPorte County Board of Directors is grateful for the dedicated service of the 24 community volunteers who served on the 2014 Allocations Committee. They spent countless hours reviewing 36 program proposals submitted by 22 partner agencies and meeting with representatives of the organizations. The Board relies on the evaluations of volunteer allocations panel members to make decisions about the best ways to invest donor dollars.
This year for the first time, United Way grouped agency programs into four impact areas: education, financial stability, health and basic needs. These are the building blocks of a quality of life. The acute needs in our community are challenging our ability to provide significant levels of funding. In fact, the total amount requested by agencies was double what we were able to allocate through the general fund.
The Allocations Committee and United Way Board have closely examined the critical needs and made tough decisions about program funding based on factors such as: cost effectiveness, unduplicated services and ability to attract other funding. Programs that presented data showing how their services directly benefitted their participants were ranked the highest.
United Way of La Porte County knows that when we LIVE UNITED – We Are Better Together! That has been made clear by the commitment of the following allocations committee members: Bill Gertner, Brian Black, Jim Stemmler, Gary Huskey, Diana Gore, Connie George, Dick Pilcher, Lori Potter, Kari Albert, Sharon Ziething, Christabel Rogalin, Jennifer Laux, Jay Pouzar, Sandy Smith, Kathy Townley, Susan Branch, Carolyn Probasco, Mark Hargrave, Nancy Taylor and Lance Werner.
Special thanks to panel chairs: Mary Jane Eisenhauer, Jack Elia, Stephanie Oberlie-Adams and Sharon Wright.