D‑51 staff report United Way partnership, foundation to receive further support from this year's campaign

At a regular Mesa County Valley School District No. 51 board meeting, school leaders highlighted the district's ongoing partnership with United Way of Mesa County and the District 51 Foundation.

Corey Hayy, principal of Appleton Elementary Bookworms and chair of the District 51 United Way pledge campaign, told the board the district's annual drive supports 25 local programs at 19 nonprofits and serves roughly 50,000 Mesa County residents. Hayy credited volunteer coordinators, building pledge leads and one behind-the-scenes coordinator, April Hart, for organizing the campaign and said the district has contributed nearly $1.5 million since the partnership began in 2004.

Andrea Kreves, assistant executive director of the D‑51 Foundation (presenting on behalf of Dr. Angela Christensen), said the campaign will provide more than $9,000 to the foundation this year. Kreves described how those funds are used — for programs such as Bloom Where You're Planted, classroom grants for technology and professional development — and announced incentives (including tickets to the White Iced celebration gala) for high-donation buildings and individual donors who designated the foundation.

The board acknowledged staff and volunteers for running the pledge drive and recognized buildings that saw the largest increases in participation. Presenters said the campaign showed year-over-year gains in both participation and total donations and that D‑51 employees remain the district's largest yearly organizational donor to the pledge drive.

Next steps: Foundation staff will finalize donor-designation distributions and proceed with incentive drawings for schools and selected individual donors.