If funding for the Covington County United Fund isn’t remitted as pledged, state education budgets might not be the only ones affected by proration, said United Fund vice president Dwight Mikel.

“We’re running well under budget (for collections) and way behind schedule,” Mikel said. “We don’t want to go into what they call proration, but that would be a necessity if we don’t have the money to distribute.”

Mikel said to date, collections total $63,000, or about 55 percent of the $115,000 goal. Two weeks past the Oct. 31 fundraising close for the 2010 drive, Mikel said the local organization, which helps area agencies provide valuable community services, is still $10,000 short of its 2009 collections, as well.

“What that means is that while some of that $10,000 is payroll deductions, the rest is for pledges that have seen no activity since they were made,” he said. “Agencies have committed to provide services based on what we allocated in 2009 and 2010.

“A lot of agencies started their new fiscal year in October,” he said. “They took their new allocation and plugged it into their budget. If we don’t collect that money, we’re going to have to cut back.

“And it’s just like what happened in the schools,” he said. “But I know the people in our community have a good heart, and this is their way of proving it by donating to United Fund.”

Mikel said he encourages those who pledged last year and haven’t given “to make good on last year’s pledge, and those who haven’t given this year, please step up to plate this Thanksgiving season and give.”

This year’s drive is raising money for the Covington County chapter of the American Red Cross; Impact of Covington County; Boy Scouts; Andalusia Ministerial Association; Girl Scouts; Covington County Adult Training Center; Covington County 4-H Clubs; Opp Meals on Wheels; Youth Sports Recreation Boards; SAFE of Covington County; Andalusia Community Christmas; Andalusia, Opp and Florala public libraries; Opportunity House; Crossover Ministries; Governor’s Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities; Sav-A-Life; and the Opp Benevolence Fund.

Contributions can be mailed to Covington County United Fund, P.O. Box 1791, Andalusia, AL 36420.