United Way Of The Plains

Give items of value program (giv): warehouse location used to receive and distribute donated products such as office furniture/supplies, linens, paper goods, and other various items from area businesses and national retailers. Product is distributed to area non-profits at no cost, thereby allowing the receiving agency to spend more of their dollars on their respective mission. During 2024, 103 local companies and national retailers donated items with an estimated fair market value over $3.0 million dollars. These donations benefited 280 agencies in our community during the year.

Community impact and grants administered: united way's lead role in community grants resulted in grant revenues in excess of $4.8 million for the local community, of which $2.0 million was directly administered by united way of the plains. Grants awarded were primarily in the areas of education, financial stability, health, and homelessness. Education initiatives: continued the read-to-succeed program which partnered with area elementary schools, by providing reading coaches dedicated to reading with children. Reading coaches devoted 30 minutes once a week with a student to help develop reading skills. As a result, 437 second & third grade children enrolled in this program benefited from this mentoring program. Health initiatives: prescription medicines: through a partnership with singlecare - provided a discounted prescription drug plan, saving area residents over $180,000 on prescripton costs. Dental care: through a partnership with delta dental of kansas, provided dental insurance coverage througout the state of kansas for working individuals that are not able to afford traditional dental insurance. Through this program, 416 clients received over $430,000 in dental care benefits during 2024. Financial stability initiatives: through our volunteer income tax assistance program, over 120 volunteers were recruited, trained and provided assistance in filing over 11,000 tax returns for the elderly and low-income residents resulting in over $7.3 million dollars being returned to these individuals. Basic needs initiatives: homeless initiatives: united way serves as the lead agency for the coalition to end homelessness in wichita/sedgwick county, which is comprised of over 600 individuals and organizations from nonprofit, faith-based, government, and business organizations, and individual community advocates. This coalition colloaborates on the planning of the services needed for homeless individuals and families in our community. During 2024, this committee served over 3,200 individuals by providing assistance with emergency shelter, transitional housing, and street outreach and housing services. With over 1,400 individuals being housed or kept in housing during the year. Disaster response and assistance: during 2024, united way continued its role in providing assistance to victims of an april 2022 tornado. Through the relief fund established to assist victims of this disaster, united way distributed over $500,000 in relief funds to residents impacted by this disaster. The individual applications for assistance are reviewed by a long-term recovery committee, established by the city of andover, with united way having a seat on the committee

United way's 211 statewide information & referral service leverages a compreshensive database of health and human service resources. During 2024, this program provided help to individuals over 153,000 times. The top needs requested by callers were in areas of utility/rent assistance, tax preparation services, shelter information, and food pantry information. United way's volunteer center provides coordination of volunteer projects between agencies needing volunteers and individuals/groups wanting to volunteer. In addition, the center launched a volunteer group called "serve united" to bring volunteers through group projects during 2024, the center 17,500 volunteer hours to benefit our local community