By Mary Ellen Godin, Record-Journal staff
The United Way of Meriden and Wallingford has signifcantly scaled back the amount of funding allocated to 15 local agencies as traditional fundraisers and workplace campaigns are hurt by efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The United Way cut its funding allocations by 50 percent to 15 local agencies, but has matched last year’s funding to five agencies with the greatest human service needs right now. Administrators hope to fully fund the agencies when an annual fundraising campaign ends in December.
“Prior to COVID-19, we had developed a new 3-year strategic plan, were in the middle of a successful annual campaign, and were ready to plan exciting changes for our agency. We still have seen exciting changes, but unfortunately they’ve been driven by the crisis of the virus and lockdown of our economy,” Executive Director Maria Campos Harlow said in a statement. “The United Way, having been serving for over 90 years in all sorts of areas of our communities, was built to respond to the times we are in. The challenges have been, well, exciting, to say the least.”
The United Way of Meriden and Wallingford typically dispenses about $482,000 annually to the 20 non-profits.