A local charitable organization surpassed its goal for this year.

The 2009 Prairieland United Way Campaign raised over $550,000, totaling 102 percent of the organization’s $540,000 fundraising goal. Executive Director Lori Hall says she thought it was going to be tough to garner enough money to reach the mark after the loss of several area business like ACH Foods and EMI.

Over 2,000 people and 100 companies made some sort of contribution to the campaign. This year, special events including Restaurant Days and Snow Day for United Way helped to achieve the target amount. Hall says it came down to the wire. She says several large businesses donated large sums of money in the final two weeks.

Funds are distributed through a community allocation process and agencies requesting funds are asked to make presentations to panels of community volunteers.

The campaign kicked off in August and encompasses Morgan, Scott, Cass and northern Greene Counties.