Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992 TAG: 9202280255
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-13 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MONTGOMERY-RADFORD UNITED WAY LETTER ADDRESSES NATIONAL STORIES
Following is an open letter from the Montgomery County and Radford United Way to the New River Valley community. It was written Thursday before William Aramony, president of United Way of America, announced his resignation. See story on A1.Dear Montgomery County and Radford Supporter:
The Board of Directors of the Montgomery County and Radford United Way has asked me to convey to you our deep concern regarding the recent publicity surrounding the United Way of America and its senior management.
Your United Way was established and is independently operated by the citizens of Montgomery County and Radford. Its sole mission is to support the community agencies that are called on to meet the needs of our less fortunate neighbors. It is not a chapter of the United Way of America.
Less than 1 percent of your annual contributions is paid to the United Way of America to secure access to training, planning, advertising and other programs which would not otherwise be locally available to our relatively small organization. Our payments have been made in the belief that all proceeds would be used to help underwrite the cost of these programs. The recent articles indicate that some of these funds may have been misdirected.
A study, commissioned by the directors of the United Way of America, is currently under way to determine if funds have indeed been mismanaged. At a special meeting of the Board of Directors of your Montgomery County and Radford United Way, held Feb. 27, 1992, a unanimous decision was reached to discontinue all payments to the United Way of America pending the outcome of this study.
We appreciate your concern about this situation and encourage you to contact the United Way office at 381-2066 should you have any further questions.\ Sincerely,\ Taylor M. Cole,\ President,\ United Way of Montgomery County and Radford