Heartland Region United Way - helping those close to home

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HURON – A half century in existence, United Way Heartland Region has in more recent years grown into a year-round volunteer endeavor to impact lives, engage young people and support dozens of different programs, the executive director said.
“We believe in making Huron an even better place to live,” Rhonda Kludt said Thursday.
“We look for ways that can make our community stronger and better,” she said.
Huron’s United Way once spent September through November raising money.
But while funding 31 agencies that support 44 programs, United Way Heartland Region’s active 24-member board of directors has developed more community impact work than their counterparts across South Dakota, Kludt said.
With just 1 percent of the money pledged and raised here going to the national organization – the lowest dues of any group in the country – United Way Heartland Region’s board supports agencies that make a difference in Huron, she said.
“They work very hard to make sure that the dollars that are raised go to those organizations that really have a lasting impact on our community,” Kludt said at the District 22 Democratic Forum.
On the second Tuesday of each August, about 400 volunteers spend the annual Day of Caring by working on projects around the city.
“It’s just an incredible experience,” Kludt said.
There are 20 to 30 projects completed on each Day of Caring, with people of different ages working side by side.

Also about 10 years old is the Backpack program, which provides nutritional food for kids in need on school-year weekends.
Started with 60 children at Buchanan School in 2008, it has been expanded to Huron’s three elementary schools, Holy Trinity Catholic School, Head Start and schools in Wolsey-Wessington and Iroquois. Donations are feeding 550 children.
In another program, volunteers read to kids in summer school one day in June.
“That is a program that gives you a little feel for what it would be like to spend a half hour a week or a half hour a month volunteering in a school,” Kludt, a retired Huron teacher, said.
From the Day of Action in June came the genesis of the MENtoring program at the Washington 4-5 Center.
“MENtors was designed to get positive male role models into the classroom,” she said.
Adults working in the elementary schools in Huron are predominately female.
From 15 to 18 men spend a half hour a month in the classroom. Kludt said she is hoping to grow the program so there are male volunteers spending time in each of the schools.
The kids are enjoying their interaction with the men, but they’re not the only ones benefiting, Kludt said.
“The testimonials we receive from these guys and the impact the kids have on their lives has really been heartwarming,” she said.
Local PEO chapters, meanwhile, have volunteered to get involved in the schools as well, and Kludt is hoping to launch a program in January in which members work with kids at Madison 2-3 Center for a half hour each month.
She said it will be referred to as PEOple Helping People.
United Way Heartland Region also realizes the importance of getting high school students involved in Huron, she said.
“We firmly believe that if we do not engage the next generation of leaders in this community, our community will die,” Kludt said.
She said a dynamic group of kids serving on the Huron Youth Leadership Council do volunteer work, give out grants in a fashion patterned after United Way for programs that impact young people and serve on local boards.
“They could care less about political affiliation,” she said of HYLC members.
“They’re passionate about issues,” she said. “And the issues they care about are the issues that affect people.”

Photo:

United Way Heartland Region executive director Rhonda Kludt answers a question at Thursday’s District 22 Democratic forum.

Photo by Roger Larsen/Plainsman