GREENSBURG – The Decatur County United Fund (DCUF) closed its 2015 fundraising campaign about $27,000 ahead of last year’s record-breaking total, and along the way to that monumental number focused on community unity, positive change, and educational opportunities.
Joane Cunningham, DCUF executive director, announced Tuesday that last year’s capital campaign for the local United Way chapter garnered $479,066. The total handily bested the initial goal of $415,000 and exceeded last year’s landmark tally of just under $452,000.
The biggest beneficiaries will be the Decatur County community via the numerous services provided by its nonprofit partner agencies. Those organizations include the Greensburg Community Bread of Life, Decatur County Catch-A-Ride, Human Services, Inc., the Decatur County Family YMCA, Greensburg Meals on Wheels, Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Decatur County, and at least half a dozen more.
Taken as a whole, that group helps people in need find food and housing, and contributes to health, financial, and educational needs locally.
During the DCUF’s annual banquet Tuesday at Greensburg’s Hampton Inn and Suites, Cunningham took time to shed some light on some of those who made 2015, by all accounts, a resounding success.
Three of those are a trio of local high school students who serve as DCUF board members. Those students detailed literacy programs that have helped people in the community work toward better fiscal prospects and enhanced reading abilities.
North Decatur High School student Zach Johnson said the DCUF’s partnership with Main Source Bank on an adult financial literacy program encompassed 16 successful sessions last summer, each of which was held at the Greensburg Community Bread of Life. The sessions were aimed at helping adults gain self-sufficiency by teaching them how to best allocate their own resources to reach financial stability. Twelve adults took part in those programs, Johnson said, one of whom went on to enroll in an Adult Literacy Program that began in May.
Jacob Johnson, a student at South Decatur High School, said the adult literacy initiative is offered for free to anyone age 18 or older. The program seeks to enhance math, reading and writing skills through one-on-one mentoring.