Community Corner
New United Way Director Sets Lofty Goals for Organization
United Way of Southington Director Carol Reilly is excited to take on the work of one of the town's most influential non-profits.
After taking her post as United Way of Southington Director in October, Carol Reilly has enjoyed acclimating to her new job and new hometown.
As director she oversees the partnership between the United Way and its 17 partner agencies to fulfill its mission of bettering the community through human services.
Here's what she has to say:
Q: What made you decide to take this position?
Reilly: "When I was laid off by the American Cancer (She was in charge of the direct marketing activities) I saw this open up and thought it was a perfect fit."
Q: Now that you've moved to Southington, what do you think of the town?
Reilly: "It's really a great environment to work in, I'm really enjoying it. I don't even call my neighbors my neighbors, I call them my friends, which is great."
Q: What do you think is special about the Southington United Way?
Reilly: Our organization is unique because of the 15 United Ways in Connecticut there are only three including Southington that are in-town United Ways. People feel strongly about about their money helping local people and that's what we do. All of our money is raised in the geography of the town and is spend here.
Q: What are your short term goals?
Reilly: "Right now we're focused on our biggest fundraiser event, our St. Patrick's Day dinner at the Aqua Turf on March 17. It should be a lot of fun."
Q: How do you plan to keep the United Way vibrant even in these economic hardships?
Reilly: "I think relationship building between our partner agencies and other is the most important thing right now. I'm looking logistically at the entire community, and I'm going to invite all my partner agencies to sit down together, talking directly with each other about what they need, and what they're doing. We also have 26 active board members, which is a key to our success."
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Board member and most recently interim United Way Director Victoria Triano called Reilly a hard worker, and is confident the work of the United Way will continually expand.
"What's special about the United Way is that it provides an accountability factor that you sometimes don't have at other organizations, Triano said. "We have field visits and periodic progress reports, and one hundred percent of our money is used to fund programs, not agencies."
