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United Way To Focus Campaign on Mental Health, Education, and Financial Stability

Steve Fox, United Way Campaign Chair, cuts a VHS tap ribbon during the 88th birthday kickoff event at the Mediacom Ice Park on August, 29.
Megan Burke
Steve Fox, United Way Campaign Chair, cuts a VHS tap ribbon during the 88th birthday kickoff event at the Mediacom Ice Park on August, 29.

 

Steve Fox, United Way Campaign Chair, cuts a VHS tap ribbon during the 88th birthday kickoff event at the Mediacom Ice Park on August, 29.
Credit Megan Burke
Steve Fox, United Way Campaign Chair, cuts a VHS tap ribbon during the 88th birthday kickoff event at the Mediacom Ice Park on August, 29.

United Way of the Ozarks has worked to bring together service organizations for 88 years.On Wednesday, the United Way held an event to kick off the 2018 Campaign season and ask the community to get on board. KSMU’s Megan Burke has more.

 

 

The funding campaign was announced with an 80s themed party where Campaign Chair Steve Fox cut a VHS tape ribbon with giant scissors on the top floor of the Mediacom Ice Park. 

The campaign goal? To raise three million dollars this year.

Jeff Smith, Community Relations Director for Salvation Army, Brandi Bartel, Executive Director of the Victims Center, Debi Meeds, President and CEO of United Way of the Ozarks, and Louie, the Springfield Cardinals mascot, pose for a selfie during the UWO campaign kickoff event.
Credit Megan Burke
Jeff Smith, Community Relations Director for Salvation Army, Brandi Bartel, Executive Director of the Victims Center, Debi Meeds, President and CEO of United Way of the Ozarks, and Louie, the Springfield Cardinals mascot, pose for a selfie during the UWO campaign kickoff event.

  Debi Meeds, President and CEO of United Way of the Ozarks, says the board looked at the latest Community Focus Report to identify “red flags”—or gaps and needs in the community. The three main areas of focus this year are education, mental health, and financial stability, Meeds said.

“We say we’re working upstream to prevent poverty and upstream to help people who are already in poverty,” Meeds said.

The organization hopes to reduce poverty in the Ozarks by 5 percent by 2025.

Copyright 2021 KSMU. To see more, visit KSMU.

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Megan started working as a KSMU photo intern in the fall of 2017. She is currently a junior at Missouri State University majoring in journalism and minoring in photography. Also working as a senior reporter and staff photographer for The Standard, she plans to pursue a career in international photojournalism. Megan was born in Tokyo, Japan but grew up in O’Fallon, I