Those issues include chronic disease in the aging population, cancer prevention and early detection, abuse and injury prevention, diabetes and childhood obesity, she said.

The loss of $2,500 of United Way funding will curb the availability of an Elks Home Services nurse to the disabled in Northumberland County, Avenues executive director Peter Keitsock said, and will likely require the Elks Lodge, which helps to fund the program, to contribute more.

New agencies on the roster are the Children's Discovery Center, Selinsgrove; the Clinical Outcomes Group, Northumberland; and SUN Home Health Services of Northumberland.

Organizations that reapplied for United Way membership were evaluated on whether their operations were in line with the mission and expectations of the United Way as determined by the organization's newly adopted strategic plan, which charges the United Way with solving community problems at their root cause, Ms. Albright said.

Those community problems are early childhood education, lack of public transportation, poverty and the effect of drug and alcohol abuse on families.

Money raised in the 2007 capital campaign will still support the 35 agencies currently funded through the United Way. The 2008 campaign will fund the new roster, Ms. Albright said, adding that United Way will honor donations to any designated agency.

Clinical Outcomes Group of Northumberland is new to the United Way's roster. The organization has a subcontract with the Family Health Council of Pennsylvania to provide tobacco control within the community, and uses state and federal grants to address abuse intervention, drug and alcohol abuse and workplace wellness.

"We sought a partnership with the United Way because their mission and our mission very much coincide," said Dan Derr, director of tobacco and business services. "We were ecstatic for the United Way to recognize us a partner within the community ... and we readily accept that challenge and look forward to our working with the United Way."

SUN Home Health Services, Northumberland, will use its funding to provide personal response system units to high-risk patients in their initial 60 days of home-health care.

The units provide homebound patients with a communication device to call for help, if needed.

"SUN Home Health Services is pleased and honored to be selected as a new member of the Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way and we look forward to working together to meet the needs of our community," said Donald N. Wilver Jr., executive vice president for community affairs."

Attempts to reach Habitat for Humanity, the Selinsgrove Area Youth League and USO World Headquarters were unsuccessful.

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