United Way of Greene County's board of directors decided Wednesday to dip into its reserves to provide funding for 24 community-service agencies.

A 7-percent, across-the-board funding cut announced to the 24 agencies in December will remain in place.

But now the "very good news" is that no additional cuts are needed, according to Wendy Peay, United Way executive director.

The 2009 campaign ended two weeks ago with a shortfall of $101,147, or 14 percent below the goal.

United Way leaders said they were very thankful to have raised $618,853 of the $720,000 goal during such tough economic times.

When the fundraising campaign ended, the board was faced with the dilemma of cutting the agencies' funding or depleting its reserves.

At the end of the campaign it was believed that the reserves would be depleted if they were used to cover the shortfall.

Since then, it was discovered that the United Way's investment account used for its reserves gained value this year, as opposed to last year when it lost value, Peay said.

She estimated that it would take about $50,000 of the reserves to provide the funding with no additional cuts.

Peay said the board realizes that it must be "very conservative" in setting a goal for the next campaign.

A decision on that goal will be made at the board's April meeting, she said.

Peay added that she is very proud of the board's decision to "bite the bullet" and provide funding for the agencies.

United Way funds benefit the following agencies, in alphabetical order: American Red Cross Greene County Chapter, Asbury Child Enrichment Center, Boys & Girls Club of Greeneville & Greene County, CASA of Northeast Tennessee, Child Advocacy Center, The Children's Center, CHIPs Family Violence Shelter, CONTACT Ministries, Family Resource Center, Family Support Services, Food Bank, Foster Grandparents, Frontier Health, Girl Scouts of the Appalachian Council, Greene County Cancer Program, the Greeneville Emergency & Rescue Squad, Opportunity House, Literacy Council, Mountain Region Speech and Hearing, Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Sequoyah Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Tennessee Poison Center, Tennessee Rehabilitation Center, and the YMCA Scholarship Program and Arthritis Aquatic Program.