Your United Way » Committees and Responsibilites

2012 CARE Council

United Way of Ellis County	City of Hays	Ellis County
Dustin Schlaefli-Co-Chair	Mike Billinger	Alicia Hering
Josh Dreher-Co-Chair	Kayla Lonnon	Becky Howland
Christine Lang	Mike Prindle	Dr. Katherine McGonigal
Joel Maiorano	Mark St. Peter	Tom Pitner
Terry Siek

 Every United Way Member Agency is required to submit an annual funding request. The CARE Council, a partnership between the City of Hays, Ellis County and the United Way of Ellis County, reviews the applications, makes site visits and conducts interviews as needed. The CARE Council presents a recommendation to the Board of Directors of the United Way of Ellis County, which makes the allocation awards based on the capacity of the United Way to meet its campaign goal.

2011 Community Impact Task Force

Nikki Pfannenstiel Co-chair	Ronan Sramek Co-chair
Wayne DeBusk	Mike Graf
Ed Harbin	Lara Lehman
Jeanie Michaelis	Gloria Rader
Terry Siek	Jerry Sprock
Meagan Wellbrock

Creating community impact is a collaborative effort. United Way is one of many players and sees its role primarily as a convener that brings together numerous resources throughout the community to address a critical issue. In addition to funding, resources can include time, talent, community research, agencies, public policy, and neighborhood associations. United Way works with community leaders from business, government, faith-based organizations, agencies, and other local groups in developing consensus around a community impact plan.

In keeping with the United Way Mission, the United Way of Ellis County Board of Directors is committed to offering an annual short term grant program to member agencies. The goal is to fund one or more special programs that bring together resources in our community to make an impact in under-served areas of need. Hopefully these projects will involve community collaborations to solve problems that might not otherwise be able to be addressed. The Community Impact Grant is is available to both member and non-member agencies.  All organizations applying for Community Impact Grants must be affiliated with a not for profit tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or be a governmental entity and operate within the geographic area served by United Way of Ellis County.  

The 2011 Community Impact Grants were allocated to the following agencies:

Agency	Program Name	Description	2011 Grant
Northwest Kansas Community Corrections	Domestic Violence Treatment Program   Bond Supervision/Housing	Grant used for Domestic Violence group offender program.   Grant will also be used for bond supervision of alleged offenders in Ellis County for housing and monitoring the behavior and whereabouts of the pre-conviction defendants to ensure public safety.	$18,500
USD 489 Early Childhood Grants Advisory Council	Don't Do What I Did   Mental Health Services	The grant will be used for workbooks for the Don't Do What I Did program. Grant will be used to provide mental health services for children under age 5 of low income families.	$1,800    $8,500
Initiative for Inclusionary Childcare	Disability Programs	Grant will be used to provide monthly programs to increase childcare and parenting quality for families, childcare providers and childcare centers for children with disabilties and developmental delays.	$1,680
Smoky Hill Foundation for Chemical Dependency	Housing Support	Grant will be used for housing support for clients.	$10,000
Big Brothers Big Sisters	Programs for kids waiting	Grant will be used to fund programs for kids on the waiting list.	$7,315
Project Dream Inc.	Summer Camp	Grant will be used to provide a summer camp for children of families with chronic illness.	$6,000
Ellis County Ministerial Alliance	Thanksgiving Feast	Grant will be used to provide the Annual Thanksgiving Feast to the community	$1,500
Community Foundation of Ellis	Dennis Schoenthaler Walking Trail	Grant will be used to provide support to complete the Dennis Schoenthaler Walking Trail in Ellis.	$5,000

For Community Impact Grant application, materials and instructions, please contact the United Way office at 628-8281 for a password to the secure site. 

Community Response Grants

The Community Response Grant program enables the United Way of Ellis County to respond to the changing needs of our community and expands the United Way’s capacity to serve the residents of Ellis County. The grant program will fund projects and programs that are aligned with the mission of the United Way. 

The United Way of Ellis County distributes the funds in two separate grant periods. 

All organizations applying for Community Response Grants must be affiliated with a not for profit tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or be a governmental entity and operate within the geographic area served by the United Way of Ellis County.  Community Response Grants are available to both member and non-member agencies of the United Way of Ellis County.

The 2011 Community Response Grants were allocated to the following agencies:

For Community Response Grant application, materials and instructions, please contact the United Way office at 628-8281 for a password to the secure site.