AMERICUS — One not so obvious symptom of the poor economy is the effect it has had on non-profit organizations. Non-profits are immensely important to the community because they provide a wide range of heavily relied on services. In turn, these agencies are reliant on larger groups such as the United Way to maintain a community presence.

Burdened by the tight pockets of the recession, the United Way has come up short in its allocations to the agencies its seeks to support. According to Sheila Parks of the United Way of Sumter County, donations that are allocated to local non-profits are anticipated to be less than 50 percent of the annual goal of $100,000. “If we do not receive donations, we cannot send allocations to our local agencies,” says Parks.

One can deduce that non-profit community services and the umbrella agencies that resource them, are suffering just the same as commercial entities if not more so.

The Boy Scouts are one of the agencies that rely on the United Way for annual allocations. Ray Allen, regional director of Boy Scouts, says that they "have received no funds in Sumter County." The Boy Scouts were expecting their usual allotment of $5,000 for the year from the United Way. According to Allen, the Boy Scouts of "Albany was cut by 50 percent and Tifton received some funds."

Liz Kelly, executive director of LEAP, an education resource for Sumter County, says that LEAP "did not receive any funds... and it has had a great impact.” The Adult Literacy Program, the Sumter County Mentoring Partnership and the Performance Learning Center are all LEAP coordinated programs that focus on keeping education a priority in the community. Money for these programs goes toward scholarships for GED students, transportation, internships, recruiting of volunteers and stay in school incentives. Each of the three programs received $500 from the United Way in previous years. “We are not able to give scholarships to GED students now,” says Kelly. “We have cut down on support because there are no funds available.”

The Adult Literacy Action is another viable service that has been shortchanged due to United Way cuts. “We relied on them big time,” says director, Diya Felton. “We have received $3,000 a year for at least the past four or five years,” says Felton.“We are suffering.” Felton says that she has put in calls to the United Way and they “have not been returned.”

The United Way is a vital service to another local agency which has seen its funding dwindle, the American Red Cross. Leisa Cross, executive director for the Middle Flint Chapter of the American Red Cross,s that its budget is “down to less than 60 days of cash.” According to Cross the United Way usually allots $28,000 a year to the Red Cross, 10 percent of its budget. Last year the Red Cross only received allocations in January, March and April at $2,333.33 each, totaling $9,333.33 from the United Way.

“With this economy there is a larger strain trying to raise funds and there are more families who are depending on us for help,” says Cross. The United Way has been the main contributor,” she says.

United Way of Sumter County raises funds on behalf of the Americus Literacy Action, Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Club, Council on Aging, Girls Scouts, LEAP, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Southwest Georgia CASA, Special Olympics and Visions for Sumter. Donations to the United Way are always allocated locally.

Send donations to United Way of Sumter County, P.O. Box 1046, Americus, GA. 31709.