The United Way of Southern Chester County recently held its annual meeting and announced that it would be allocating $750,000 to 24 nonprofit programs that serve the southern Chester County community.

Those allocations will have a direct and positive impact on the lives of thousands of southern Chester County residents in the coming year.

More than $344,000 of the allocations will go to support programs like the Oxford Area Neighborhood Services Center, Kennett Area Community Service, Meals on Wheels, and others that provide crisis intervention to those in need. The Oxford Area Neighborhood Services Center and Kennett Area Community Service, in particular, are places where those in need can turn in a crisis.

The United Way of Southern Chester County will be allocating another $205,800 to programs promoting family stability and health. This includes nonprofits like the Kennett Area Senior Center, the Oxford Area Senior Center, the Tick Tock Early Learning Center, and others.

The United Way of Southern Chester County is also allocating $199,800 for programs that help people transition to independence through education. These are programs like the Kennett After School Association, the Garage Community & Youth Center, and the Crime Victims Center of Chester County.

While the United Way of Southern Chester County is able to allocate $750,000 to the community partners working on the front lines to provide assistance to local residents, the requests for help by those partner agencies totaled more than $1 million—an indication that, even in a comparatively prosperous community like southern Chester County, there are a lot of needs.

Overall, the United Way of Southern Chester County’s current campaign has raised $1,097,000 so far. That’s a little short of this year’s goal, but officials pointed out that some time remains until the current campaign ends later this summer.

At the annual meeting, which was the organization’s first in-person gathering since the pandemic, the United Way of Southern Chester County also inducted seven new board members for the upcoming campaign. The new board members include Andrew Sauder, Tracy Wise, Sailaja Mokkapati, Willa Hightower, Lorraine McClain, and Franklin Silva.  

The United Way of Southern Chester County also elected new officers for the coming year. Rick Olson is the president of the board. The vice presidents include Dave Halm (vice president of allocations), Karen Greig (vice president of board development), Matt Decker (vice president of campaign), DeDe Cimini (vice president of community relations), Kathy Willard (vice president of marketing), Kathy Fischer (treasurer), and Carrie Freeman (secretary).

The United Way of Southern Chester County has planned a fundraiser for Aug. 11 that will also serve as a salute and a farewell for Carrie Freeman, the longtime CEO of the organization who announced her retirement late last year. The search for the new CEO has been taking place since then, and it has now reached an advanced stage. A new CEO is expected to be on board soon and will be welcomed at the Aug. 11 fundraiser.

To make a donation to United Way of Southern Chester County, or for more information, go to www.unitedwayscc.org.