United Way of Lee County: Cones For A Cause set for Tuesday

United Way of Lee County has been busy serving up meals at 13 sites in Lee County through their Summer Eats meal program. This program provides free meals to children and teens in Lee County all summer long while school is out of session.

The program will run through Aug. 7. We would like to thank St. Paul Lutheran Church for their generosity in allowing us to utilize their space to store food and pack meals for the program. We also want to thank local churches, service groups and individuals that held food drives to support the program. We serve thousands of meals each summer, and hundreds of volunteers come together to make the program happen! Thank you to everyone in the community who helped unbox, pack and serve meals.

With back-to-school time quickly approaching, the United Way office is gearing up for our annual giving campaign. We have already scheduled a few upcoming fundraisers. On Tuesday, July 30, we will be partnering with Meusel’s Dairy Delite in Dixon to hold a Cones For A Cause fundraiser. Indulge in a sweet treat for a great cause at Dairy Delite! Stop by the Meusel’s Dairy Delite in Dixon on Tuesday, July 30, between 2 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and 20% of all sales will be donated to United Way of Lee County! They also will have a special running that day where 100% of sales for any Red Velvet Waffle Cone Flurry sold will benefit UWLC. We are so grateful for the support from Dairy Delite, and we hope to see you all there!

Additionally, we have scheduled a fundraising event on Saturday, Aug. 24, at Fresh Finds Boutique in Dixon. Join us for a special day of shopping with a purpose! Fresh Finds Boutique in Dixon invites you to our Shop for a Cause event, where a portion of all proceeds will benefit United Way of Lee County. Whether you’re looking to refresh your wardrobe or find the perfect gift, every purchase helps support United Way’s efforts to address critical needs in our community. Bring your friends and family, and let’s shop with heart! Together, we can make a positive impact. We can’t wait to see you there on Saturday, Aug. 24, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

If you own a small business or restaurant and want to partner with us to hold a fundraiser, we would love to work with you! This is a great way to give back to the community and get your business’ name out there. We appreciate the opportunity to partner with so many wonderful local businesses. We also want to thank Salamandra in Dixon for hosting a Dine United event on July 25.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook to stay up to date on all our upcoming events and campaign happenings. Our 2024 fundraising campaign is scheduled to kick off on Sept. 5. If you are interested in being a campaign volunteer, please contact me at arichter@uwleeco.org. This last year we had 34 volunteers help with our campaign, and we hope to continue to grow our team. The volunteers help make connections with businesses and service groups and share information about what is happening at United Way. We also can help your business run a workplace campaign, which allows employees the opportunity to give back. At United Way, we support 33 local nonprofit organizations with a variety of needs. We strive to support organizational programs that address the most crucial needs in our community!

United Way will be at the upcoming Tools for Schools event on Thursday, Aug. 8. This event will meet at the Dixon Elks from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Families can come to this event to get free school supplies and other items. We will be at the event passing out food and back-to-school snacks.

We are also proud to partner with multiple schools in our county to provide support to students. We partner with the Amboy Education Foundation and Dixon Public Schools to help support their 1:1 Chromebook initiative. We also awarded Dixon Public Schools a grant to supply the school nurses with lice kits. The kits are assembled to be sent home with students and provide families with everything they need to treat the child and the home to address the problem.

We hope that everyone continues to have a safe and healthy summer and that students in Lee County have the best school year yet!

• Ashley Richter is the executive director of United Way of Lee County.