United Way of MPM to Invest Over $567,000 in Community Programs

ZANESVILLE, OH – The United Way of Muskingum, Perry and Morgan Counties is planning to invest over $567,000 over the next 12 months into community programs.

Katie Grubbs, the Community Impact Coordinator at the United Way, says $510,320 came from their annual fundraising campaign and the additional $57,138 came from their Emergency Food and Shelter Program.

She says they have teamed up with 17 local programs and 17 local partners to ensure they are improving the health, education, and financial stability of everyone in the County.

“We partner with a lot of different agencies to make an impact in those 3 pillars.” Grubbs said. “Just one of them today is SEAT, we’re really excited to make an impact in the access to medical services and that’s something that they’re really passionate about and making sure that people, that if they’re unable to maybe drive to their own appointment, maybe even financially pay for transportation, they’re going to be able to cover that and make sure people are getting that medical access.”

The United Way awarded South East Area Transit with a check for $12,000 for medical trips.

Howard Stewart, the Transit Director for SEAT, says this grant money will help to fill the gaps where funding is needed.

“Operationally, we’re only funded at 50% so we have to come up with a 50% local match, a lot of individuals don’t understand that, so we use opportunities to educate individuals about that.” Stewart said. “So this funding will be serving as a local match for us to help us to complete transportation, specifically out of town transportation for individuals.”

If you are interested in seeing the other recipients or for more information you can head to the United Way’s website.