United Way offices hit hard by flood

United Way of Racine County, located on the first floor of the Lincoln Building at 2000 Domanik Drive along the Root River, appears to be the only business in the county seriously affected by the flooding in Racine last week. The offices sustained extensive damage when the river reached record levels and flooded the Lincoln Park, Island Park and Spring Street areas of Racine. (See picture HERE.)

Carpeting, tile and dry wall in the offices all must be replaced, and many pieces of office furniture will be discarded. “We expect it will be four to six weeks before we can return to our space.” said Dave Maurer, United Way executive director.

Lincoln Lutheran gave United Way temporary space on the fourth floor. “This allows us to be nearly fully operational with these office and meeting areas. Staff have continued with meetings and events as scheduled for the most part and kept up with email communications,” Maurer said. With the phone system back in place, staff can now be reached by leaving voicemail messages.

United Way has been in contact with the American Red Cross and other emergency services and is planning to offer ongoing basic needs assistance to Racine County residents who have suffered flood damage when those other resources have expired. “While we have some operational disruption, we anticipate the longer term needs of some families will require our support and we will be there to help as we were with Katrina victims who landed in Racine a few years ago,” said Maurer. “Some flood victims are our neighbors down the street.”

n addition to gratitude for the support provided by Lincoln Lutheran and their staff, United Way extended thanks to Great Northern, Merchants Moving and Storage and Home Depot for the quick responses.

Here's a United Way directory for anyone needing to reach the staff:

Executive Director, David Maurer, 635-7499 x-119, davemaurer@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Director, Susan Gould, 635-7499 x-111, sgould@unitedwayracine.org

Finance and Administration Director, Barbara Jopke, 635-7499 x-113, bjopke@unitedwayracine.org

Resource Development Director, Tracy Nielsen, 635-7499 x-118, tnielsen@unitedwayracine.org

Communications Director, Lisa Koenen, 635-7499 x-117, lkoenen@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Manager, Tiffani Pinkerton, 635-7499 x 120, tpinkerton@unitedwayracine.org

AFL-CIO Liaison/Community Services Director, Ron Thomas, 635-7499 x-112, ronthomas@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Associate, Michelle Brown, 635-7499 x-121, mbrown@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Associate, Marie Hargrove, 635-7499 x-115, mhargrove@unitedwayracine.org

Community Impact Associate, MaryBeth Kallio, 635-7499 x-114, mkallio@unitedwayracine.org

Western Racine County Liaison, Doug Farrell, 492-3108, dgf517@idcnet.com