United Way seeks your input

By Joel Myhre (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, March 22, 2008

As many are probably aware, one of the most popular features on the The Fergus Falls Daily Journal’s web site has been the ability for readers to comment on stories. Our readership statistics show that, clearly, the feature is drawing readership and participation like we have never done before.

I admit that many of those comments make me stand up in my chair, and question whether we should continue the practice of allowing comments or not.

However, in the case of this column, I will be keenly interested in what our readers have to say.

Several months ago, I wrote a column as president of the United Way about how the Imagination Library was going to run out of funding soon. The Imagination Library provided one book per month to about 1,800 children from birth to 5 in Otter Tail County. There were no restrictions as to income levels; any child could participate.

As I talked about then, my daughter was in the program, and immensely enjoyed the books she received.

The program lasted about a year thanks to donations from the Thomas Stringer and Emily Johnson memorials, and a one-time donation from the United Way.

However, at an estimated $48,000 per year — $27 per child per year, 1,800 children — the funding ran out after about a year. And while the United Way staff have continued to work to find other funding sources, $48,000 per year, every year indefinitely is a big, big chunk.

After a recent meeting, the United Way board has been pondering what looks to be the only option: using a large portion of the United Way funds that typically go to local non-profits, and continue the Imagination Library.

If donations to The United Way of Otter Tail County were growing, funding the Imagination Library would not be an issue. The reality is, donations have been stagnant. The United Way of Otter Tail County has raised about the same amount of money, within $5,000 to $10,000, every year for the past seven or eight years. This year, in fact, unless significant donations come in before the end of the month, funding levels will fall below the average.

I have thought about the idea of restarting the program, and only allowing children whose parents fall below a certain income level to participate. However, the national Imagination Library organization does not allow such guidelines.

So here’s the choice: fund the Imagination Library, and significantly reduce or cut altogether funding from many of the programs the United Way has been funding for many years, or don’t fund the Imagination Library.

It’s not an easy choice. The programs the United Way funds all have merit, from the Salvation Army to the Food Shelf to Meals on Wheels to Someplace Safe to A Place to Belong. Cutting funding from those programs would impact people in need in our area.

But the question is, what will the impact be of not getting books to children? Certainly, literacy among children is important. Is it important enough that it should take higher priority over other needs?

The other factor is, will the presence of the Imagination Library convince you, the local resident, to give more to the United Way? Or will the fact that the United Way cuts funding to other worthy non-profit anger you enough to give less?

These are questions that the United Way Board is grappling with. I certainly am. There’s no correct answer. And while it would be nice if there weren’t losers, there will be.

Please let us know. Write letters, comment on this column, talk with United Way board members. We really, truly want to know what you think.

Joel Myhre is The Journal’s general manager. E-mail him at joel.myhre@fergusfallsjournal.com