Did you know that the hours between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. are the times when adolescents are most likely to get into trouble? It’s between the end of the school day and before Mom or Dad get home from work when many kids are left unsupervised.
So in 2001, United Way of Union County established the Youth Arts & Recreation Grant Fund, now the Youth Education, Arts & Recreation Grant Fund, designed to pay the participation fees for kids to stay involved in positive, structured youth programming if their families could not afford the cost.
“Keeping children involved in positive, structured activities is a key in guiding them down the right path,” says Mike Heifner a longtime United Way volunteer and Committee Member who helped establish the Fund in 2001.
Since its inception, United Way has awarded more than $93,000 to qualifying organizations.
Recent grants awarded from money raised by the Putt FORE Kids has helped support youth participating in:
Discovery Riders Therapeutic Equestrian Center
Fairbanks FCCLA
Marysville Choral Boosters
Marysville Junior Baseball/Softball
Marysville Junior Football Association
North Union Destination Imagination
North Union Junior Football
North Union Little League
North Union Robotics
North Union Softball for Girls
Plain City Elementary PTO Art Program
Raymond Junior Baseball
Willow Ridge Horse Facility
LEFT: Discovery Riders
CENTER: Youth Team Sports
RIGHT: North Union Elementary’s Destination Imagination team finished 9th in the world in Global Competition in 2012 thanks in part to a grant from the United Way that helped fund their trip to Tennessee.
