By Grace Apostol
News Co-Editor
United Way of Kent County organization showcased their 24 partner agencies on Sept. 1 during Chestertown’s First Friday.
Tabling all across High Street, these organizations were able to talk with passersby about their goals within the community and as a partner of UWKC, which focuses on bettering health, education, and financial stability within Kent County.
Susan Storm, a member of the Board of Directors for UWKC, aided in managing the annual event for the many organizations involved.
“It’s a way to showcase our organization and also the agency partners we donate money to each year,” Storm said. “We’re the oldest non-profit in Kent County.”
On the UWKC website, the mission statement is pasted for the general public to understand the non-profit’s purpose.
“The mission of United Way of Kent County is to identify the human service needs of the community; promote member agency programs in an effort to increase public understanding and financial and volunteer support; solicit funds for these agencies by conducting an annual fund-raising campaign; and allocate these funds, giving emphasis to those agencies with programs that address community needs prioritized by the Board of Directors,” the mission statement said.
According to Hope Clark, the executive director of UWKC, an open application is available on the United Way website where different organizations can register as a non-profit and apply for grants. “We support as much as we possibly can,” Clark said.
Also according to Clark, the purpose of the event on First Friday included the kick off to the campaign for fundraising the $165 thousand dollars granted to the 24 organizations.
“It’s a community based [and] oriented campaign to support our local non-profit,” Clark said. “This is the opportunity the community has to come and learn about the programs specifically that we are supporting.”
Newly partnered with funding from UWKC, Minary’s Dream Alliance also tabled at First Friday for the event. According to their website, their mission is to “transform the lives of youth, families and communities through education, resource development and community engagement.”
Sitting at their table were Executive Director Jasmine Robinson, intern Rebecca Starootman, and Program Director for the afterschool program Doncella Wilson.
“What we applied for was food for our Adolescent ClubHouse Program,” Robinson said. “…our contracts that we have are highly restrictive, so we look for other funding to be able to provide resources and supports for our families and communities.”
One of these many other partners includes a Kent and Queen Anne’s counties branch of “Horizons,” a summer program for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students that also qualify for the Free and Reduced Meal Program.
According to their “What is Horizons” flier, “Skilled and nurturing educational professionals work together in small classes utilizing hands-on teaching methods that focus on reading, writing, and math.”
Emily Murphy, the new executive director of Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne’s for less than a year at this time, was excited to be a part of the organization.
“It has just been such a privilege to be a part of the organization and everybody, automatically I could tell, just loves giving to the program [and] working with the program,” she said. “The kids love being part of it.”
The UWKC event also utilized the time to showcase and advertise one of their upcoming fundraising talent events “Kent’s Got Talent.”
According to Clark, the whole community, including Washington College, are able to “share their talents.” Members of the community can upload a three to five minute, or shorter video, to YouTube and then fill out the contestant link on the “Kent Got Talent” site. Each contestant can be voted for via donation.
The top 10 finalists will perform at the Garfield Center for the Arts on Nov. 11, 2023 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
More information for this event can be found on the website here.
Photo by Grace Apostol
Photo Caption: Taking place on High Street, the 24 organizations manned tables for the community to see.