Craig — Donations from individuals, businesses and corporations in Moffat County helped raise $450,500 for Moffat County United Way. The last time fundraising topped $450,000 was in 2013.

“Our theme was United We Can and United We Did. We were able to exceed our goal and will provide additional funds to agencies this year,” said Executive Director Amanda Arnold.

All money raised in the community stays in the community.

“It’s about helping people in our community,” Arnold said.

More than 60 nonprofits are expected to receive funds. In some cases money is used to leverage matching grants. In all cases, donations provide programs and services throughout the community.

“It’s the first time in years that we have actually met our goal,” said Donna Malvitz, United Way board secretary and executive secretary at Trapper Mine.

The 2017 campaign kick-off was last September with 10K Day, a new event sponsored by Yampa Valley Bank in Craig.

“United Way is one of the most important nonprofit groups they support so many other non-profits and agencies. We view it as an essential part of our community,” said Dave Fleming, president of the Craig bank.

The goal of the event was to increase individual donations by providing another way for people to give, Fleming said.

More than 735 individuals and about 35 businesses contributed to the campaign.

Moffat County School District had one of the largest increases in individual donations from $9,600 in contributions in 2016 to more than $19,000 in contributions for 2017, Arnold said.

Campaign success was also attributed to increases in business and corporate giving.

“Some of our bigger companies were able to increase quite a bit. Twentymile and Tri-State both had significant increases, and Twentymile was able to meet the employee contributions and that really helped,” Malvitz said.

In 2016 Tri-State Generation & Transmission raised $63,000 compared to $92,000 raised in 2017, Arnold said.

“I want to thank the community for supporting us. I also would like to thank the United Way Board Members,” Arnold said. “This would not have been possible without their help and support.”

Contact Sasha Nelson at 970-875-1794 or snelson@CraigDailyPress.com or follow her on Twitter @CDP_Education.