NATCHEZ &8212; Efforts to help Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the past 10 months have sharpened the vision of United Way of the Greater Miss-Lou leaders.

For Maria Bowser, chairman of the upcoming 2006-2007 campaign, it comes down to learning how to attack the roots of community problems rather than the symptoms.

&8220;We call it community impact. United Way is almost going back to the old Community Chest idea,&8221; Bowser said.

The &8220;community impact&8221; idea has been in place in the national United Way office for several years. When Kathy Stephens came to the Natchez office in March 2005 as executive director, she began to look into implementing the plan for United Way of the Greater Miss-Lou.

&8220;First, we try to get agencies working together to solve problems, not to overlap in their work,&8221; Bowser said. &8220;We want to address the real problems. Instead of helping an individual by paying his utility bills, we want to help him get a job so he can pay his own bills.&8221;

The challenge is huge, said Stephens, but the Natchez area proved it could tackle and solve big problems when tens of thousands of people in distress sought and found help in Natchez.

Hurricane Katrina struck not long after the board had implemented the new plan.

&8220;When the whole community gets together, we can solve problems,&8221; Stephens said. &8220;Sadly, here, every one in four people lives in poverty. And 36 percent of our kids live in poverty.&8221;

The United Way campaign, with a goal of $300,000, formally begins Aug. 31 with a jambalaya jamboree at the Natchez Convention Center, Bowser said.

Meanwhile, the campaign already has begun informally, starting with the companies known as &8220;pace setters,&8221; whose goal is to get 100 percent of their employees to contribute to the campaign.

A recent luncheon to recognize the pace-setting companies and get them started ahead of the August kickoff was a big success, Bowser said.

&8220;We&8217;re trying to get companies to buy into the idea of doing more than the usual pledge cards and payroll deductions,&8221; she said. &8220;We want them to do some fun things to raise funds.&8221;

The United Way office has a list of suggestions, such as contests, games and potluck lunches to raise additional funds. The office also has slogans businesses can use, such as &8220;Help the Dough Rise.&8221;

United Way met its goal in 2005-2006, Stephens said. Help from the national office of United Way and other disaster-related donations helped to keep the agency in good shape as it gave aid to many thousands of evacuees.

And the local participation in the previous campaign means United Way agencies receive needed funding.

&8220;Now, we have to move forward. The funds we have to allocate by July will go to direct-impact agencies,&8221; Stephens said. &8220;That money will go immediately out to the community.&8221;

The biggest challenge will be helping agencies understand the direction United Way is taking, she said. &8220;We have to make an impact in the best way we can.&8221;

By the end of July, a new list of agencies will emerge. Not all of them will receive funding. &8220;We have a lot of different agencies applying this year,&8221; Stephens said. &8220;There are about five or six agencies we&8217;ve never funded before.&8221;

Requests for funds are about $150,000 in excess of what the agency expects to allocate.

A church has applied, for example. So has the Natchez public school system. &8220;With the schools, what we&8217;re going to target is an accelerated reading program and truancy.&8221;

Both of those attacks will have long-range implications for the children and the community, she said.

Rosemary Hall of Britton & Koontz Bank, a United Way board member, has organized a youth leadership board, about 14 youngsters, most of them upcoming seniors, from all the high schools, public and private, in Adams County and Concordia Parish.

&8220;The board wanted to have the input of young people. So many of our services go to children and youth,&8221; Hall said. &8220;We wanted to tap into their ideas about the directions we should take.&8221;

The agencies that apply but do not receive funding will get help of a different sort, Stephens said. &8220;We will try to partner with them to find resources that will help them, to help them in other ways. It is truly a united way,&8221; she said.

Bowser said the board is committed to the idea of making an impact. Members saw what impact the agency had on evacuees&8217; lives.

&8220;I remember seeing the children (of evacuee families) in their little uniforms, so excited about going to school. It made me very proud of Natchez,&8221; Bowser said.

At the pace-setter luncheon, as someone was describing United Way work with evacuees, &8220;the gentleman who was serving our food asked if he could say something,&8221; Bowser said. &8220;This is a wonderful example of what we&8217;re talking about. He said, &8216;I&8217;m one of those people you helped. I lost everything. You gave me a place to stay and you fed me. Now I have a job and I live in Natchez. And I thank you.&8217;&8221;