The Marshalltown Area United Way (MAUW) campaign already had a good head start before Tuesday’s annual kickoff.
New MAUW Executive Director Debbie Collins said this year’s goal is $900,000 and gave a brief report of how much fundraisers have raised. The first duck race brought in $2,200, the golf tournament contributed $31,000, a Taco John’s fundraiser and tip night raised $580 and individual donors have provided more than $50,000.
“This brings us to a total of $219,000 to date, so that means we are about 24 percent of our goal,” she said. “We don’t have that much farther to go. We;re doing fantastic, right?”
This year’s goal is the same as 2025’s. Last year, the MAUW raised $855,185.
“I want everybody to know that I know times are hard and our economy is rough,” Collins said. “So, every dollar matters, whether it’s $1, $5, $10, $100, every single dime counts.”
Even though many households in the town are facing tighter budgets, she added the donations that continue to come in prove how much Marshalltown residents believe in the community and one another.
Emma Michels, a 2026 campaign co-chair along with Sadie Weekley, said when they agreed to chair the effort, they were not sure what they were getting into.
“But we were up for spending more time together and doing some fun things,” she said.
The co-chairs met in 2014, and Michels said they made the decision to get involved because they have both been actively involved with MAUW partners. Michels worked for CAPS and she added that the agency has benefited from the yearly campaign and has been able to provide services to children and families in need.
“Not just that, I’ve also been able to see how those other agencies come together,” Michels said. “Marshalltown is a unique community. We partner together, we work together, we share services and through CAPS I saw the relationship with the Marshalltown Police Department and MPACT.”
Weekley is a captain with the police department and has been there since 2007.
“We have been able to work with many different agencies,” she said. “When we ask people we are trying to hire why they want to be a police officer, no one ever says it’s to drive cars fast. They usually say it’s to help people, which is true.”
Frustration comes about for Weekley when she responds to a call and does not have the resources or answers necessary for the situation. That is when other agencies are contacted.
“It has been amazing for us,” Weekley said.
Besides kicking off the annual campaign, Tuesday’s event was Collins’ first kickoff, and she gave attendees a brief story about her journey to Marshalltown.
“The million dollar question I get is ‘Why Marshalltown?’” she said. “As most of you know, I came here because my son told me I was going to be a grandma and they asked me to move to Des Moines. I said, ‘Yes. I will move to Des Moines.’ Then they decided to move back to the farm and said, ‘How about Marshalltown?’”
At first, Collins indicated she was not excited about the prospect, but decided being a grandmother was more important.
“That was not the only reason I wanted to move,” she said. “I had to move to a community that I knew cared about each other, that was expanding, that helped one another and truly stood united, and Marshalltown has completely blown me away.”
In addition to hearing from the co-chairs and the new executive director, kickoff attendees enjoyed a rib feast provided by JBS, Hy-Vee and Alliant and smoked by Andy Cole and Bruce “Bubba” Campbell. There was no campaign presentation, but there was a video highlighting partners Center Associates, the Central Iowa Marine Cadets and the Marshalltown Senior Citizens Center.
MAUW, which began as the Greater Marshalltown Community Chest in 1929, became affiliated with the United Way of America in 1962 to raise money for charitable agencies, and the campaign is the primary way to do that.
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.