DeKALB – If you asked 2,000 people how to spend money, you’d get 2,000 different answers. Opinions become even more divided when people’s lives are affected by those dollars.

Kishwaukee United Way asks its team of board volunteers to decide how to invest funds raised in last year’s campaign. Ninety-five cents of every dollar donated to the United Way is reinvested in local programs and services. The allocation panel is comprised of community volunteers from a variety of backgrounds, who spent more than 24 hours over five weeks visiting agencies and reviewing and discussing requests.

“Every agency is evaluated on an individual basis by board volunteers, and there are in-depth discussions on each program’s impact in our service area,” Kishwaukee United Way Executive Director Dawn Littlefield said.