Archive: Around Town

United Way of Tompkins County (UWTC) is announced Jean McPheeters, a long-time community advocate who has previously chaired the community campaign, and Dominick Recckio, recipient of the "Fab 5" Nonprofit Leader of the Year Award and current Tompkins County employee, will join together as co-chairs of this year's community campaign.

The pair firmly believes that the financial support that UWTC provides to households and nonprofit agencies in Tompkins County is more critical than ever. "The COVID-19 pandemic has made the role of community philanthropy all the more important. Working together the people of Tompkins County can support families and individuals through food, shelter, mental and physical health, and the knowledge that we stand together during difficulty and that we still celebrate the joys that life brings," shared McPheeters.

The annual campaign provides grants and funding to over 50 local nonprofits and over 85 programs annually, including direct support to households through several programs including 2-1-1 and the United Way/2-1-1 COVID-19 Response Program which provides up to $500 in direct support for qualifying expenses to qualifying households. In a typical year 1 in 5 residents in Tompkins County interact with a United Way funded program. This year, that rate will almost definitely increase, and the nonprofits are in greater need than ever of the type of support that UWTC provides in order to continue meeting the needs of the community.

"Our goal for this campaign is $1.5 million. However, we see that as the minimum goal and we are hoping to just crash right through that and bring in a lot more money because we know it can be spent well in our community," McPheeters shared in a recent video announcement. Recckio joins her in the video, adding, "As many tragedies as we have seen in 2020, on the flip side we've seen just as much human spirit coming out the other side. And I think we really have the opportunity to inspire people, re-inspire people, bring everyone into the fray with this. Because this is something that involves everybody. When your neighbors do better, you do better."

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