United Way of Lebanon County celebrates annual fundraising campaign

United Way of Lebanon County held a celebration on Thursday, May 15, for the group’s annual fundraising campaign with local politicians, United Way personnel, and leaders representing organizations that utilized United Way funds in attendance.

“We have individuals who give to the campaign, and then we really celebrate what we do with those dollars as well, and how we distribute them in the community to local nonprofit organizations, and also through some of our signature service programs as well,” executive director Erin Velazquez said. “It’s really just a way to thank the community for supporting the United Way.” 

She said they are working to bring energy to the organization and remind the county of the available resources.

At the dinner, the organization revealed the results of its fundraising campaign. Velazquez said they didn’t meet their $1 million goal, but still raised the considerable amount of $750,000.

Read More: United Way kicks off 2024-2025 campaign with $1,000,000 goal

She said there are likely a number of reasons they didn’t surpass the number, which was set after they raised almost $900,000 during the previous campaign.

“We’re sort of in a reintroduction phase to the community with some things — new staff, new office location, some things like that,” Velazquez said. “[We] unfortunately didn’t make our goal, but we still had a really strong campaign.”

Leading the charge will be Bob Hoffman with Beers + Hoffman Architecture as the chairperson. He will take the reins for the sixth time when they kick off their next fundraising period in September.

Hoffman is joining a fairly new team at Lebanon’s United Way. Velazquez and director of community development Debra Hornick have been in their positions for only a few months.

However, Velazquez said they aren’t new to the community, and even when they were in a transition period, there were still many people keeping the organization running.

“We have a really, very strong governing board of directors who has been able to step in and keep things moving as there’s been turnover,” she said. “There’s so much opportunity as far as United Way. It’s an old brand. We’re really working to refresh our image in the community right now, and hopefully, you’ll see move of us.”

She said they plan on becoming more visible. The office recently moved from Annville to Cumberland Street in downtown Lebanon. They also plan to invest in marketing and new communication channels, getting out to community events, and sharing updates on social media, she said.

But she noted United Way can’t address Lebanon County needs on its own. One of the biggest issues its staff sees is affordable housing, which has become more scarce as rent prices have risen.

“It’s an absolute huge undertaking,” Velazquez said. “Currently, there’s no one organization that is handling that need for affordable housing, so we’re currently evaluating what could be our small piece of trying to work on the housing issue because we can’t do it alone. Nobody else can do it alone. I know there are some collaboratives that are currently forming, and we’re looking into joining some of those.”

United Way offers PA 211, through which people can dial 211 or text their zip code to 898-211 to talk to a resource specialist and get help with a utilities bill, housing, after-school programs, and more, according to the website.

In the past year, people made over 3,600 requests for assistance. Online data shows that housing and shelter assistance made up 42.1% of these calls, utilities assistance made up 27.5%, and employment and income assistance made up 7.2%.

Velazquez said with the volatility of the current political and social services landscape, this need could increase. She said government layoffs could continue and might lead to people needing additional services to supplement lost resources.

“We want to be able to be a conduit, to refer them to those services, but also help fund some of those services as well,” she said. “It’s a scary time, and I think now more than ever, people are going to be looking to the United Way and other agencies like us and those that we support to really step up and bridge that gap.”