By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

The Pontiac Kiwanis Club met Wednesday and heard about the history of the United Way of Livingston County.

Executive Director Deb Howard explained the origins of the organization and showed how it touches more people than most know.

“Generally what I do when I’m in a crowd is I ask them to stand up if they’ve been touched by any of the following agencies, then I just read off the list of agencies and you have very few people sitting in the room at the end, because you may not think of yourself being touched by an agency, but almost everybody in the county  has in one way or another,” Howard said.

They are inching closer to their goal of $201,000, which Howard is confident they’ll make by the Celebration, which is planned for May 3.

“We’re between $16,000 and $17,000 short of goal, but we’ll make it. We’ll make it,” Howard said.

For more information or to donate, call 844-5131 or visit them at 210 North Plum Street in Pontiac.