Citing economic woes, United Way sends an SOS

By Lea Kahn, The Packet Group
   LAWRENCE — When Craig Lafferty puts his head on his pillow at night, he worries that a family will show up at a nonprofit agency for help and find that the door is closed.
   Why? Because of a lack of funding. And that’s what may happen if the United Way of Greater Mercer County, of which Mr. Lafferty is the president and chief executive officer, cannot raise money to help the agencies that depend on it.
   That’s why the organization plans to send out 11,000 letters to Mercer County households, encouraging them to make donations to the United Way of Greater Mercer County, officials said at a press conference Wednesday morning.
   ”We all know that we are in the midst of an economic hurricane,” said Michael Conlan, who chairs the board of the nonprofit agency. “There is much uncertainty about how we will weather the storm. People are worried and they have cut back. The first place (they cut back) is charitable donations.”
   The United Way of Greater Mercer County raised $8 million for its 2008 campaign, but the 2009 campaign — which is midway through its cycle — already is $1.5 million in the hole, Mr. Conlan said. That’s the amount that Merrill Lynch would have contributed to the annual campaign, he said. The company is in the process of being acquired by Bank of America, and does not plan to make a donation.
   Although it does not have a specific goal for its fundraising efforts, Mr. Lafferty said the agency wants to match last year’s total of $8 million. Before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the group raised as much as $10 million. But in the past three or four years, it has raised $8 million to $9 million annually.
   But Mr. Lafferty said the local United Way’s fear is that it won’t be able to raise $8 million, and that’s why it needs people to step forward and help the community by donating money in any amount that they can.
   ”It’s not looking good,” Mr. Conlan said, adding this is why the United Way is asking people who have never donated to the group to dig into their pockets and make a contribution.
   Mr. Conlan said that in the past the United Way of Greater Mercer County had given money to specific charities, but now it is working with groups of charities to address three specific needs — education, income and health, Mr. Conlan said. Agencies that deal with those needs have banded together, and the United Way helps fund them through its Community Impact Fund.
   The Family Education Collaborative, whose lead agency is HomeFront, helps to develop the literacy skills of homeless children and their families — including helping pre-school children get ready for school, Mr. Conlan said. HomeFront works as a partner with the Mercer County Library, the Educational Testing Service, the Cherry Tree Club and Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.
   The Community of Services Collaboration, whose lead agency is the Family Guidance Center, aims to ensure that all needs are met. When someone goes to an agency for help, the agency may focus only on a specific need, Mr. Conlan said. But the client may have more than one need that has to be met.
   The partner agencies — CONTACT of Mercer County, Court Appointed Special Advocates, HomeFront, Womanspace and PEIKids — have banded together to address needs of the whole person, whether it is dealing with depression, substance abuse, suicide or domestic violence, he said.
   But if donors do not step forward to help fill in at least the $1.5 million hole left by the lack of contributions from Merrill Lynch, the United Way won’t be able to help the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen or the Rescue Mission, Mr. Lafferty said.
   ”It’s kind of like a jigsaw puzzle,” he said. “If you pull one piece out, the picture begins to disappear.”
   Mr. Lafferty said the United Way doesn’t want people to make great sacrifices, but rather than going out to dinner and spending $50 or $75 per person, stay home and write a check for that amount of money to the agency.
       For more information about the United Way of Greater Mercer County, visit the Web site at www.uwgmc.org.