CHENANGO COUNTY – Chenango United Way Executive Director Elizabeth Monaco announced Friday that the organization's 2017 fundraising campaign has surpassed 50 percent of its goal with just over a month to go.

As of Tuesday, Monaco said CUW has raised $220,000 of its goal of $419,000, and they are encouraging the community to continue donating through the campaign's deadline of December 31 to ensure local organizations that apply for funding receive the funding they need.

"Any amount helps," said Monaco. "There's a lot of people who still haven't made a contribution and they still have plenty of time. The second half of December will be just as important as the first."

Monaco said CUW funded 18 programs last year of the 22 applicants, and this year, 26 organizations have applied requesting a total of $441,000.

"United Ways are local. Our board is local, our decisions are local, the only thing that's national is we pay one percent of what we raise to use the United Way logo and give us credibility with national companies to allow us to do payroll deductions. Everything else is local; the money stays here," said Monaco.