Perhaps it’s fitting that the United Way of the Greater Miss-Lou kicked off its 2009 fundraising drive with its fourth-annual jambalaya cook-off.

Jambalaya, by its definition, is made up of a little bit of all sorts of different ingredients.

Almost every Cajun cook has his own special mix of ingredients put together to make the creation special.

Jambalaya is individual ingredients blended together to make a great something great.

Conversely, the United Way is one great organization that uses it size to help fund individual ingredients — non-profit agencies.

Last month a few hundred hungry residents shelled out a few dollars for the traditional Cajun food, but in doing so, they helped not only fill their bellies with jambalaya, but also filled the coffers of the “jambalaya” of non-profits.

The United Way is an interesting organization. Its sole mission is to raise funds to help fund other non-profits in the community.

Agencies, which receive funding from the United Way, are truly diverse.

This year’s goal is to raise $150,000. That’s a sizable goal, but our community has a sizable need, too.

The United Way has a new executive director, a renewed interest in being a leader in the community and what appears to be a new “recipe” for cooking up non-profit funds for the area.

We wish them the best of luck and urge you to donate to the United Way if you are able to do so.