Since 1957, the Kewanee Area United Way has provided funds for a number of local organizations that help people.
In the past year, the United Way has conducted an assistance program of its own, the Shoes for Kids program.
The United Way kicked off its 2024 fund drive Tuesday at a joint meeting of the Kewanee Kiwanis and Rotary clubs at the Downtown Eatery and Bakery. Linda Blair, the local United Way’s executive director, spoke about the Shoes for Kids program’s activities in the past year.
The program provided 250 pairs of shoes to children in the Kewanee and Wethersfield school districts and in the local Head Start program, Blair said.
She said the response from local schools to the program has been “absolutely phenomenal.”
United Way has worked with Breedlove’s to conduct the Shoes for Kids program.
“They are giving us quality shoes at cost,” Blair said.
Also speaking at the event was Nat Smith, chairman of the United Way board of directors.
Smith works for the Housing Authority of Henry County, which maintains nearly 700 apartments for people who need safe places to live. A significant number of those tenants avail themselves of services from agencies supported by United Way, Smith said.
Smith singled out the local Salvation Army unit and its director, Eddie Toliver, for providing invaluable assistance to the housing authority.
The Kewanee Area United Way assists organizations in Kewanee, Annawan, Cambridge, Bishop Hill, Galva, Toulon, Atkinson, Geneseo, Bradford and Wyoming, in addition to Kewanee.
Agency partners that receive United Way funds are the ABCD after-school program, Abilities Plus, Alternatives for the Older Adult, Boy Scouts, Braveheart, Freedom House, Girl Scouts, Henry County Senior Citizens, Kewanee Food Pantry, Rebuilding Together Henry County, Salvation Army, Sunshine Community Services Center, Center for Youth and Family Solutions and the YMCA.
Major donors include Great Dane, OSF, Peoples National Bank, Black Hawk College, Ameren Illinois, IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union, the city of Kewanee, Sullivan Door Co., Breedlove’s, Walmart, Caterpillar, State Bank of Toulon, Boss Holdings and many residents of Henry and Stark counties.
Contributions to United Way can be made through payroll deductions as “buck-a-week” donations.
Some employers match employee donations, and people can donate directly to United Way through their website, kauw.org.
