The United Way of Knox County has been named the 2019 Nonprofit of the Year by the Knox County Chamber of Commerce.
Jamie Neal, President of the Knox County Chamber of Commerce says “The United Way of Knox County is very deserving of this award. They are a great asset to our community. They have made a significant impact on so many local organizations and individuals through their programs and annual grant process.”
The United Way of Knox County will be recognized on Tuesday, April 16 during The Knox County Chamber of Commerce's annual awards dinner at the Green Activities Center on the campus of Vincennes University. The doors open at 5:30pm and the dinner and awards celebration begin at 6:30pm.
About The United Way of Knox County
The United Way of Knox County was founded in 1956 and has been providing continuous service to the people of Knox County for 63 years. Over the past 15 years the United Way of Crawford County came under the umbrella of the Knox County organization as well.
The United Way Worldwide Manifesto is “At United Way we fight for the Health, Education, and Financial Stability of every person in every community.” The most recent campaign theme was “Together We Create Change.”
The United Way has been partnering with various community organizations for over six decades and currently formally assists with funding and coordinating programs for 23 diverse organizations. Quarterly agency meetings are held to exchange information, ideas and better coordinate the social services network. In addition, they coordinate these and a multitude of other organizations through the Charity Tracker network.
Because of a joint declaring of campaign dollars in Knox County and Crawford County to the Indiana United Way, they can leverage an additional $50,000 from the Eli Lilly Foundation every two years. These dollars are used in part to fund impact programs which look to make lasting change in our county. Over the past two years both counties have experienced record campaigns and continuous growth in programming.
The impact work in Education has been especially successful with the establishment of the Kindergarten Jumpstart Program, the growth of the Kindergarten through 3rd Grade free tutoring program, the NFL character counts program and the new Bed Time in a Box program for preschool sleep hygiene and reading a bed time story.
In addition, the United Way provides free Tax service under the VITA tax program annually, regular access to the 2-1-1 service, and Familywize prescription program. All free and available to the general public.
Annually, the United Way coordinates volunteers and agencies throughout the county for the Days of Caring. This is a program where individuals spruce up, paint, build, and improve locations throughout the area.
United Way has made unique partnerships in the community with local businesses as they reinstituted the Chili Cook-off. The funds raised from this event, along with partners Salvation Army and Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom, helped to purchase bikes for local youth.
They are also the listeners of the county and have conducted Harwood Conversations with neighborhoods, college and high school students, factory workers, hospital employees, police officers and concerned citizens. Most recently, they held the first ever Homeless Summit and solicited ideas from over 100 people in attendance that will lead towards the formation of a Homeless Task Force for our area.
The United Way has a board of 25 in Knox County and 10 in Crawford County. The Current Director of United Way of Knox and Crawford Counties is Mark Hill who came on board in November of 2015. Previous directors have included Creva Vieck, Valerie Grumieaux, Tina Meeks, Danelle Yochum, Bob Murowski, and Angie Goff.