In july 2016, the fort madison area united way and the big river united way merged under new leadership and RE- named the united way of the great river region

Recognizing the importance of the rsvp program, IT has expanded to include all of LEE county iowa. Rsvp has been a part of the LEE county community for over twenty five years. The rsvp program is very well respected and looked upon with high regard by local service organizations, businesses, and individuals. LEE county is an area that needs to use every possible resource available and relies heavily on senior volunteers to achieve community goals while operating on tight budgets. Leaders in the community recognize the importance of the rsvp program in the community. United way/rsvp community partners will be selected based on a wide variety of criteria, including effectiveness of current programs, the impact programs have on the community, and the organizations willingness to work with rsvp to provide meaningful and rewarding experiences for the volunteers. The rsvp program currently collaborates with seventeen funded partner agencies to implement and develop collaborative relationships that are beneficial to the organizations as well as rsvp and its volunteers. There is a demonstrated need for improving the reading and financial literacy and improve the over health in our primary region. An estimated 150 rsvp volunteers will serve to help meet these needs in the community. Of this number, an estimated 90 rsvp volunteers will be placed in outcome assignments. The rsvp program will provide volunteers to address three important areas in our community all showing a need: 1) reading literacy, 2) vita and 3) healthy futures. With the demonstrated need of improving reading literacy in LEE county. The primary focus area of this project is reading literacy. An in school reading and tutoring program for 2ND and 3RD grade students will continue onsite at all the elementary schools in LEE county, iowa for school year 2019-2020. The goal in 2ND and 3RD grade is to maintain or improve the formative assessment system for teachers (FAST) scores. We will be collaborating with school representatives to determine the need to expand the reading program to include 4TH and 5TH grade students. With the goal to maintain the AYP scores in middle school. The literacy program will consist of qualified rsvp volunteers matched with a student that are committed to a specific curriculum of reading and comprehension. The rsvp volunteer would then follow the students' progress and continue to monitor the student for 1 -2X per week. Due to the median household in LEE county from 2015 is $43,312.00 which is $11,425 less than average for the state of iowa as a whole. The rsvp program will offer volunteer tax preparation assistance during tax season, starting in december and ending in april. The goals are to help struggling families increase their financial stability, and help return federal dollars to our local economy. Rsvp volunteers will help low-and moderate income families file free tax returns, maximizing the benefits to our clients and to our community. The main focus of our food pantry garden project is educating clients about gardening, preparation, and consumption of fresh ingredients. Education is the primary goal while maintaining the garden. Many of the people using the food pantry are reluctant to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables because IT is cost prohibitive. The food pantry garden project hopes to educate those individuals on how to, shop for, prepare and store those items in season to allow for a healthier lifestyle. Encouraging healthy eating will benefit our community in many ways far beyond just food in stomachs. Promoting healthy eating education can empower those in need to "help them self" rather than just accept a hand out. With the help of volunteers plans are to engage the food pantry clients in regular education classes and or demonstrat