Ground Breaking

Rappahannock United Way held a ground breaking on February 18, 2009 and proudly proclaimed to the community that we are ready, willing and able to meet the needs of its citizens. With the mayor, volunteers, and business leaders in hand, their promise was heard loud and clear. View pictures of the event.

Construction Updates

We encourage you to check back regularly to see the amazing progress being made each day.  View pictures of the construction progress.

Project Overview

In February 2009 Rappahannock United Way began construction of a new 8,000 square foot office building to house RUW operations. The new building is located between Wawa and RUW’s current office at Shannon Park Drive and Tidewater Trail.

The Board of Directors realized five years ago RUW was outgrowing the current 2,300 square foot office, which it purchased in 1992 when it employed six people. RUW now employs thirteen people, making the current office space neither large enough nor laid-out efficiently to support the productivity RUW is capable of attaining. There are also safety considerations.

The Board of Directors studied many build, lease and purchase alternatives before it decided to construct a new facility. Using a 25-year planning horizon building on-site turned out to be the lowest cost solution. The decision to build now versus in one or two years from now was heavily weighed. The Board of Directors realized that by acting now it could save almost $400,000 in construction and debt financing costs. The cost savings of building now rather than later made postponing construction an expensive, wasteful solution.

Constructing a new operating center now actually helps in small measure to turn the economy around. The local economy will improve when the number and size of projects like this start to increase. We view this stimulus effect as another reason why RUW should build now.

RUW will utilize 6,000 square feet for its current operations. The remaining 2,000 square feet will be multipurpose space for nonprofit organizations. Over the long-term this becomes additional space to expand its operations, should the need ever arise.

The Board of Directors is deeply committed to the organization’s core values of accountability and stewardship. Using financial resources wisely and enabling the organization to operate as efficiently as possible are the Board’s top priorities.

Download: Press Release