By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The United Way of Ellis County is 90 percent to its goal as of Friday.
The agency reported it had raised $317,151 of its $350,000 goal during a Hays Chamber Chat Friday morning.
Any funds received by the end of January will be counted toward the 2021 campaign.
The agency's Care Council will begin the final determinations of awards to agencies at the beginning of February, Erica Berges, United Way executive director, said.
"That's the good thing about the Care Council is that you know that money is being used in the best way possible," Berges said. "That's what those 12 volunteers are doing."
The continuing pandemic, as well as inflation has increased the need within the community, as well as within the partner agencies.
"We always hate to cut what they may have been given last year, because the need is always there," she said. "The people in need will always be there."
Berges said she is hopeful United Way will be able to bring in more than it did last year, but was not sure if the agency would be able to bring enough in the last few weeks to meet its goal.
"We need some more help," she said. ... "We're going to be really close.
"There were a lot of businesses that came in higher than last year. That was good, and some individual donors who ramped up their giving this year. That's been a big help to where we are now."
All of the funds raised stay in Ellis County.
The agency funded 16 partner agencies in 2021. They included:
• American Red Cross
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Cancer Council of Ellis County
• Catholic Charities
• Center for Life Experience
• Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation
• CASA of the High Plains
• Development Services of Northwest Kansas
• Early Childhood Connections
• First Call for Help
• Hays Area Children's Center
• Hays Senior Center
• Options Domestic and Sexual Violence Services
• Parents and Children Together
• Western Kansas Association on the Concerns for the Disabled
• Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center
You can bring checks or cash to the United Way office at 205 E. Seventh St., Suite 111, Hays. Mail checks to the office at PO Box 367, Hays, KS 67601. You can also call the United Way at 785-628-8281 for more information.
You can make online one-time or reoccurring payments through the United Way website. You can also sign up through the website for a round-up option. Your purchases on your chosen credit card will be rounded up to the nearest dollar with the change transferred to the United Way at the end of the month.
Arrangements can also be made for monthly withdrawls from your bank account.
The agency also accepts donations through Venmo @United-Way-of-Ellis-County.