United Way exec: Knox County came through during COVID-19

MOUNT VERNON – Kelly Brenneman, executive director of the Knox County United Way, describes 2020 as a very “unique” year for the nonprofit agency.

“We’ve never held a campaign before that couldn’t be done in person,” she said. “Everything became virtual.”

Not knowing how the new reality might affect donations — and with an uncertain economic outlook as well — United Way lowered its fundraising goals for the fall 2020 campaign to $1 million. The group normally raises $1.1- to $1.2 million.

“We were able to reach it,” Brenneman said. “We were very pleased. With all the challenges we had, the community came through. Knox County is a pretty special place. Everybody sticks together and they support each other, and we’re very grateful.”

United Way can usually sense how the local economy is doing in any given year, the director said.

“You know when it’s a great year and you can go for a reach,” Brenneman said. “2020 wasn’t one of those years. Even though the stock market did well, people were out of work. We had a lot more need, and we just decided to be a little more conservative.”

It helped that “some very wonderful local companies” held workplace campaigns for donations, she said.

Among the agencies United Way funds is Winter Sanctuary, the homeless shelter.

“We support their advocacy programs,” Brenneman said. ”We at United Way don’t believe that it is OK to just give them a place to sleep and a warm meal. We believe that they need some advocacy so they can get out of that situation and can access mental health services, addiction services that will help them get on their feet so that they can be self sufficient.”

The list of other agencies helped by United Way is long and can be found on the agency’s website.

Brenneman noted that the outlook for 2021 is uncertain.

“One of our pillars at United Way is health,” she said. “We’re all about being safe, and we don’t want to put ourselves or our community in harm’s way just because we want to have a fundraising kickoff.”

Even after the medical side of the pandemic is under control, the economic hardship will likely linger, Brenneman said.

“The financial situation will go on for a couple of more years, I believe,” she said, which makes the United Way and other non-profit agencies all the more important. “We try to fill in the gaps.”