Last Call for United Way

How to explain why the average United Way contribution of Ventura County residents is only $5.56 per year, compared to a national median of $17.07?

If United Way of Ventura County leaders had the answer to that one, they’d never fall short of a goal again.

Part of the explanation, says spokesman George Phillips, is that West Coast communities generally have less successful charity campaigns than those in the East.

“Many of the people who live here don’t have deep roots,” he said. “The mind-set seems to be, ‘If this becomes a not nice place, we’ll just move again.’ ”

Still, United Way of Ventura County has been around for more than 50 years and many of the county’s prominent families have been here much longer than that. Even relative newcomers have to realize that the relatively peaceful and harmonious quality of life we enjoy owes a lot to the work of the 59 agencies supported by the United Way campaign.

Those agencies include big, well-known outfits, such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army as well as small, local nonprofit groups that provide food for the hungry, shelter for battered women and children, activities to steer youths away from gangs and drugs, research to fight such diseases as cancer, AIDS and heart disease, care for the sick and elderly, drug and alcohol-abuse treatment, disaster preparedness, job training and more.

There have been some organizational missteps and bad decisions in recent years. Expenses were allowed to consume too large a share of the proceeds. Receipts fell so far short of last year’s goal that support had to be cut to the member agencies whose budgets rely on that support. That led United Way organizers to trim their staff by one-third last year, recruit an aggressive new president and shorten the length of this year’s campaign from nine months to 90 days.

The shorter time frame works well elsewhere and ought to add to the efficiency and sense of excitement surrounding the Ventura County campaign. Yet with the deadline coming up Tuesday, the effort is still stretching to reach the $5.5 million goal--about $7 per Ventura County resident.

There’s still time to add your support. Pledges can be made by calling 485-6288.

For those eager to sink their roots a little deeper into this community and to support 59 local organizations that are working hard to keep Ventura County from becoming “a not nice place,” it’s the right thing to do.