United Way of Western Nebraska is a proud recipient of a donation from the BNSF Foundation, which will impact local families through fostering a healthy community, youth opportunity, financial security and community resiliency. This funding supports residents in our area with basic needs, including providing hunger relief, homelessness prevention and safe shelter through nonprofit partnerships. United Way programs directly support families and local nonprofit agencies to help both families and individuals experiencing poverty meet basic needs. From ensuring families have basic food to hygiene items to safe shelters, United Way is providing much needed support to the community. Through partnerships to address basic needs, United Way and our partners provide the track to improve health and well-being for all to foster a health community.
United Way Executive Director Karen Benzel highlighted the importance of the grant for United Way. Benzel noted, “The generous support of the BNSF Foundation provides United Way and our non-profit partners the opportunity to continue the work of strengthening our community. Through assisting with basic needs and collaborating with area partners through our community impact work, we are grateful for the generous contribution.”
Funds raised are used to support United Way community impact initiatives and local non-profits partner agencies in the eleven Western Nebraska Panhandle counties plus Goshen and Platte Counties in Wyoming that are actively focused on healthy community, youth opportunity, community resiliency or financial security. United Way tracks the dollars raised in each county to ensure that donor dollars remain local and impactful in the communities where they are given. United Way funding is open to non-profits that focus on financial stability, education and better health in United Way of Western Nebraska’s service area. Local non-profit agencies like Northfield Haven, East Point Horspice, Buck Therapeutic Riding Academy, Camp Scott, The Doves Program, Community Table and the Scottsbluff/Gering Soup Kitchen rely on United Way for support. Current community impact initiatives include Fighting Hunger in Our Communities, Stuff the Bus, and Imagination Library. To learn more about United Way and their work in the local community visit www.uwwn.org.