Health. Education. Financial Stability. Basic Needs.
Those are the four key areas in which the United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties works to help those in need right here at home. And that’s about as basic as you can get when someone asks how and where we help.
But as staff members, we’re often presented with a couple myths about our local United Way that we spend a lot of time debunking. So, we felt it was imperative to address two of those myths as we were putting together an announcement about our new funded partners this year.
Myth 1: Money raised locally goes to United Way Worldwide.
This is one of the most common myths we hear about United Way, and it’s simply not true. The fact is that the money you donate to the United Way of Mon and Preston Counties stays in this community. It helps folks in need right here. Neighbors, friends, family members and maybe even you.
Money raised during the 2025 United Way Campaign helps to fund 34 programs at 27 agencies, as well as internal United Way programming, such as Helpful Harvest Food Program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Monongalia County Family Resource Network, and the WV211 health and human service hotline.
What do we mean by “agencies?” They are funded partners of ours, local charities and organizations — many of which we’re sure you’ve heard of — that are allocated funds from our annual campaign.
Which brings us to our next myth …
Myth 2: United Way staffers are the ones who make decisions on what agencies get funding.
You guessed it. This one’s not true either. Our United Way has a team of 14 community members who help decide on allocations. These are folks, just like you and me, from our community who volunteer their time to do site visits before discussing and deciding on which ones should receive funding.
This group is known as the Citizens’ Review Committee, and we welcome anyone to join this group and take part in the process. If you are interested in serving on this committee next year, please contact Janette Lewis at janette@unitedwaympc.org.
The Citizens’ Review Committee makes recommendations on organizations to receive funding — including totals awarded for each organization — and then those recommendations are presented to the local United Way board to be approved.
This is important information to understand — especially as a donor — because you know that when you donate to United Way, your money is allocated to organizations that have been fully vetted by members of this community. Your gift to United Way combines with others to create a bigger impact and positive change for this community.
And that brings us to our announcement of those area organizations that will receive funding for this year. They are:
- American Red Cross
- Catholic Charities West Virginia
- Chestnut Mountain Ranch
- Christian Help
- Community Kitchen Inc.
- Connecting Champions
- Food for Preston
- Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council
- Lauren’s Wish
- Legal Aid of West Virginia
- Literacy Volunteers
- Milan Puskar Health Right
- Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center
- Morgantown Area Meals on Wheels
- Morgantown Area Youth Services Project Inc.
- Mountain Stewardship and Outdoor Leadership School
- Mountaineer Area Robotics
- On Eagles’ Wings
- Operation Welcome Home
- PACE Enterprises
- Preston County Workshop
- Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center
- Scott’s Run Settlement House
- Scouting America, Mountaineer Area Council
- Spark! Imagination and Science Center
- The Shack Neighborhood House
- Visiting Homemakers
Brandi Helms is the Chief Executive Officer for the United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties. She can be reached at brandi@unitedwaympc.org.
