Serving Eastern Wayne County for over 65 Years
The Orrville Area United Way was originally started in 1958 by a group of forward-thinking community leaders as a centralized fundraising agency to help generate the monies needed by local non-profit agencies. Steering Committee leaders, Paul Smucker and Bruce Schantz, helped transform the original entity known as Community Chest into United Fund, which later became United Way.
For more than 65 years, committed volunteers and generous donors have made it possible for the Orrville Area United Way to help where is needed most. We have evolved from a federation of nonprofit health and human care agencies to a community organization dedicated to uniting people and resources in a community-wide effort to change lives. Over the years, we have worked out of a small room at the Orrville YMCA, to a hard to find space on Market Street, and then made our move to Main, which is a prime location in the heart of downtown Orrville.
Through all the changes, transitions, and locations our focus has always been to know our community, build relationships, and help produce lasting change for our community's most pressing issues.