For the first time in its 50-year history, the United Way of Greene County is reducing its campaign goal this year, resulting in reduced allocations to most of the 24 community service agencies it serves.

Blaming a "terribly distressed economy," United Way leaders have set a goal of $720,000, compared with last year's goal of $760,000.

To date, 93 percent of last year's goal, or an estimated $708,000, has been collected in a campaign that wrapped up in January 2009.

"We just had to kind of face reality this year," Stan Ritter, chairman of the United Way of Greene County's Allocations Committee, said in an interview last week.

The reality is that the struggling economy, particularly in the past 12 months, has diminished the ability of both individual and corporate donors to give to United Way.

To help explain this situation, David Bailey, president of the United Way of Greene County's board of directors, wrote a guest column that appeared in the Monday edition of The Greeneville Sun.

The column states, "Over the past 12 months, job losses, small and large business struggles, eroded stock market values, and diminished consumer confidence have affected most Greene County citizens.

"United Way of Greene County and its funded agencies are experiencing the economy through dramatically increased need, especially from those who've never had to ask for help before. People are hurting. Daily, we hear personal stories that are pretty grim.

"United Way of Greene County is struggling with fewer and smaller donations from those who don't have as much to give."

Also, letters were to be mailed to each agency on Monday by Wendy Peay, United Way of Greene County executive director.

In some cases, companies that traditionally were large supporters of United Way have shut down or reduced their operations in the past year.

As a result, 17 of the 24 agencies that receive United Way funds will see smaller allocations for their 2010 operations.

The agencies scheduled to receive the same amount as last year are: CHIPS Family Violence Center, Greeneville-Greene County Community Ministries, American Red Cross Greene County Center, Greeneville Emergency & Rescue Squad, Tennessee Poison Control Center, Tennessee Rehabilitation Center and Child Advocacy Center.

The reduced allocations among the 17 other agencies range in percentage from 1 to 18.8, according to a list provided by Ritter, Bailey and Peay.

No agencies received an increased allocation, and United Way did not consider eliminating any of the 24 agencies.

When deciding which agencies should receive reduced allocations this year, the Allocations Committee considered several factors.

The most necessary expenditures were determined to be for crisis and emergency services, along with agencies that help keep people who are working, such as daycare support and programs that encourage continuing education and training.

Another factor was how much United Way funding counts toward the total budget of each agency.

For example, United Way funds make up 79.6 percent of the total budget for the Rescue Squad, but just 2 percent of the YMCA's budget. The YMCA Scholarship Program and Arthritis Aquatic Program allocation is being reduced by 9.1 percent from $33,000 to $30,000.

"Stan (Ritter) and the Allocations Committee have spent a lot of time making these tough decisions," Bailey said.

Because last year's campaign reached just 93 percent, reserve funds were used to fully fund all of the planned allocations, Ritter said.

"The reserves should be for more of a catastrophic situation," he said.

To set the goal of $720,000, the Allocations Committee considered an overall United Way operating budget with no growth from last year, while making as much funds as possible available for the 24 community service agencies.

In addition to the agencies listed above, United Way funds benefit the following agencies: Asbury Child Enrichment Center, Boys & Girls Club of Greeneville & Greene County, CASA of Northeast Tennessee, The Children's Center Scholarship Program, CONTACT Ministries, Family Resource Center, Family Support Services, Foster Grandparents, Frontier Health, Girl Scouts of the Appalachian Council, Opportunity House, Greene County Cancer Program, Literacy Council, Mountain Region Speech and Hearing, Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and Sequoyah Council of the Boy Scouts of America.