AREA WIDE UNITED WAY PLANS TO TOP LAST YEAR'S GOAL

The Area Wide United Way raised $534,022 last year, surpassing its $520,000 goal.

This year, the charitable organization has set its goal even higher than the $534,000 level.

The specific goal, however, won't be announced until this year's campaign kicks off Sept. 12 with a noon luncheon at the Holiday Inn Convention Center.

Astronaut and Cape Girardeau County native Linda Godwin will be the featured speaker.

The public is invited to attend. Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door and can be obtained from the United Way office or board members.

Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the Area Wide United Way, said the fund drive should continue to grow.

"This is a community that could raise $1 million in a campaign," said Jernigan. "We have to figure out how."

That won't happen in the immediate future, but it could be a goal down the road, she said.

"Mission Possible" is the theme of this year's campaign. The title is drawn from the "Mission Impossible" television show.

Despite the success of the United Way, the organization could still achieve much more, she said.

"A lot of people aren't touched by the United Way," she said.

The Area Wide United Way fund drive raises money in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.

The money raised in the campaign will be distributed among 24 agencies and programs and will help fund the United Way office.

The list includes the same agencies funded last year, plus four more.

The new ones are A.P.P.L.E., which helps senior citizens with their government forms and other paperwork; the Cape Girardeau Civic Center; Retired Seniors Volunteer Program; and SADI, the SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence.

United Way previously helped fund the Civic Center but dropped it last year after financial problems with the center's organization surfaced.

The Civic Center has reorganized since then, prompting the United Way board to put the organization back on its funding list.

The other organizations to be funded by United Way are the American Red Cross, the Association for Retarded Citizens, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, cancer research at both Cape Girardeau hospitals, Cape County 4-H Council, Cape Senior Center, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Easter Seal Society, the FISH food pantry, Gibson Recovery Center, Habitat for Humanity, Hoover Eldercare Center, Jackson Ministerial Alliance, Jackson R-2 Children's Fund, Jackson Senior Center, Lutheran Family and Children's Services, Radio Information Service for the handicapped, Safe House for Women and the Salvation Army.

Money from this year's fund drive also will be set aside for one-time grants for various civic projects. Last year, United Way handed out $20,000 in one-time grants.

Jernigan said the United Way prides itself on keeping its operating expenses to a minimum.

Only 15 percent of the money raised is spent on office operations, including salaries. The percentage also includes the $4,000 paid to the national United Way organization.

"Eighty-five cents of every dollar goes to the agencies," she said.

The local United Way board reviews the budgets of the agencies that it funds. It encourages those agencies to keep operating expenses below 25 percent of their budgets.

Jernigan said a contribution of $52 a year to the United Way campaign can make a difference.

For that amount:

-- The American Red Cross could provide two nights shelter for a family burned out of their home, provide food for a week for a disaster-stricken family or provide training for two people to learn CPR/first aid.

-- The Southeast Missouri Easter Seal Society could provide an hour of group speech therapy to more than six children or provide two hours of early childhood special education.

-- The Gibson Center could provide a day of in-patient care for someone struggling with alcohol dependency.

-- The Safe House for Women could buy 20 children's books or a month's supply of milk and fruit for (eight women and their children recovering from domestic abuse.)