ROANOKE, Va. – What many feared is now happening. Major companies that have moved employees out of our area took the money they gave to nonprofits with them.
It's left the United Way of Roanoke Valley a million dollars short in donations and it could mean 13,000 people lose services on which they depend.
One-hundred-fifty children come to the Boys and Girls Club every day after school. For just $15 a year they get access to tutors, programs on character building and healthy lifestyles.
A large portion of the organization's grant funding, $47,000, comes from the United Way of Roanoke Valley, but that money may not be there this year.
"That would be a staff of loss for us of five to 10 of our part-time afterschool staff," said Michelle Dykstra, Boys and Girls Club Southwest Virginia executive director. "It would greatly impact each individual student that we serve here at Boys and Girls Club if that money were to go away."
The United Way distributes about $2.8 million a year to 56 local programs like ARCH to help veterans get back on their feet, preschool at Greenvale School and RYSE to help homeless children.
Right now, United Way is so far behind in donations that if it gave out grants today it would have less than $1 million to give.
Most programs would lose at least half of their grants and 17 programs would lose all funding.
"You see the faces of the people that need it," said Susan Campbell, United Way board chair, who added that this has been one of the hardest years on her decades with the non-profit. "This is our youth, these are people that are employable that we need to help so we can raise our bar and make our community healthy."
The United Way has lost $900,000 in the last few years since major companies moved employees out of the area, taking big corporate donations with them. United Way has been dipping into reserve money to fund grants over the last few years but cannot do that this year.
"We're dealing with a new normal now. Those companies are never going to come back to Roanoke with the same measure of presence that they had. But we have to adjust and shift because we still want the same quality of life that we always enjoyed," said Afira DeVries, United Way of Roanoke Valley.
DeVries says if they can't make up the donations:
- There will be 13,000 people who will need help and may not find it
- Including 1,200 children not having preschool or out of school care
- 900 senior citizens not having proper medical care or a visit with a meal
"This is serious," said DeVries. "It's important for the rest of the community to not throw up its hands and say, 'Oh well there's nothing we can do about that.' It's important for the rest of us to recognize our responsibility in stepping up to address that gap."
Providing money for thousands of our neighbors who rely on services every day.
"It really has a trickle-down effect when you start to talk about effecting one particular agency because we all work so closely together and the United Way funding is a huge part of that," said Dykstra.
The United Way of Roanoke Valley is hoping to raise half a million dollars by the end of May in a new campaign called "It Takes the Valley". Â
You can donate online starting Monday at ittakesthevalley.com.
Even with the campaign, DeVries knows they are going to be short more than a million dollars and is letting organizations know to expect less money.