The Prosper team of Jim Thorpe receives funding

The PROSPER Team of Jim Thorpe has received funding from the United Way of Carbon County since 2010. It has made it possible to continue SFP programs in both LB Morris and Penn Kidder Elementary Schools in the Jim Thorpe School District. The United Way of Carbon County is different than most United Ways as it consists completely of volunteers from the community – there is no paid staff and they rely solely on the dedicated time and efforts of their volunteers. The volunteers are passionate about the success of the programs that the agencies run with the assistance of funds raised by the community members of Carbon County.
The application process for funds was started back in 2010 – before that – there was not much competition for the funds raised by the United Way – they had not accepted new agencies into the program since its inception in 1998. The newly elected president, Melissa Binder of the Penn National Bank, presented a new procedure to review the current agencies and accept new agencies into the UW and possibly delete those that were not helping to raise money for all agencies or not providing services in Carbon County. An agency would submit an application addressing areas that included; Strengthening Families, Helping Children Succeed, Basic Needs or Promoting Self Sufficiency. An agency could be providing services in one or all of these areas. The applications were then reviewed by a community group that was not affiliated with the United Way - their suggestions were brought back to the board and the board would vote on those agencies that should receive funding.
In our United Way, the only commitment that the agencies had to make is that they would assist in a July fund raising event in the community and not do any fundraising of their own during the kickoff campaign for United Way in September. In 2012 there were a total of 19 agencies being funded by the United Way of Carbon County with a total budget of $60,000.00 – with PROSPER receiving $5000.00.
The PROSPER Team in Jim Thorpe has gladly accepted the responsibilities of helping at the United Way fund raising event in July – we sold snow cones and apple treats this year – making an additional $215.00 above the $5000.00 allocations we received for the year. The team has submitted an application for the 2013 year and is waiting to hear on for the reply.