United Way of Horry County campaign at 91 percent of goal

With two and a half months remaining in its annual fundraising drive, the United Way of Horry County has contributions and pledges for 91 percent of its $1.3 million goal. The campaign is one percentage point ahead of last year’s drive in mid-February and the goal is $25,000 more.

“That last little bit is always the hardest to get,” says marketing and communications coordinator Tracy Lee Vreeland, but she and president Genie Sherard both are optimistic that the goal can be reached before the drive ends on April 30. Campaign volunteers are checking with “people who gave last year and might not have given yet this year,” Vreeland says. “We plan to pull out all the stops,” Sherard says.

United Way staff members are holding “regular campaign countdown meetings” to look for any leads to pursue. Sherard notes that a couple of large entities started their employee drives in January so those contributions and pledges are still to come. Sherard, in her second annual fundraising campaign, started a 90-day blitz to open the drive and set a firm close on April 30. That approach recognizes that some major employers have their internal campaigns after the first of the year.

Campaign chairperson Justin Lee established a New Business Division, led by Deborah Bridges-Manning, and that effort has contributions from 29 new businesses, Vreeland says. “It’s been a great response.”

The South Strand Division (Lynn Carmon) is again the standout among the several divisions with 96 percent of its goal. Both the Residential (Sherry Maloni) and Campgrounds (Annette Shepherd) subdivisions have raised 122 percent of their goals. The Surfside Business subdivision (Woody Ford) has 94 percent.

The Myrtle Beach Business subdivision has reached 91 percent of goal. The Loris subdivision (Clayton Tyler) has 127 percent in the Inland Division. The Agencies subdivision (Bob Squatriglia) has 106 percent of goal; Education 91 percent. The Industry Division, led by Gregg Turbeville, is at 94 percent.

New to the United Way staff is community impact coordinator Rosanne Dates and Sherard says Dates is focusing on expanding and deepening the impact of the nearly 40 nonprofits including the Claire Chapin Epps Family YMCA; American Red Cross, Eastern S.C. Chapter; Community Kitchen of Myrtle Beach; New Directions; CAP (Churches Assisting People)and three Helping Hand organizations; the Salvation Army; Friendship Medical Clinic & Pharmacy; Help 4 Kids.

The goal is “to maximize each dollar. She [Dates] is moving us more toward funding based on the impact and need and programs to accomplish that,” Sherard says, making the United Way an agent of change, not merely a fundraiser.

Sherard also notes the growing 2-1-1 system, “literally one-stop shopping” for people needing social services. Partly due to wide use during serious flooding in October, the number of S.C. calls to 2-1-1 nearly doubled in 2015, to 2,432,686. Horry County calls increased to 128,547 in 2015. Lamar Billboards is promoting 2-1-1 on its digital locations. “That’s been such a nice gift.”

While fundraising is hardly the only role of the United Way, raising the remaining $120,000 of the goal is vitally important to thousands of people and the varied agencies that serve them. “We need everybody to participate and give more if possible.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 8:03 PM with the headline "United Way of Horry County campaign at 91 percent of goal."