GALION — This year’s campaign for United Way of Crawford County will kick off soon with a new man in the leadership role.

Joshua Noblet took over as manager of the local United Way on Aug 1.

“I had worked on a non-profit project at BGSU (Bowling Green State University). It was a new program for student veterans and I learned a lot from it, including the fact that it feels really good to help others,” said Noblet.

Noblet is a 2008 graduate of Colonel Crawford and received a degree in history with a minor in political science from Bowling Green. His parents, Joseph and Ruthann Noblet, were both educators until their retirement.

Noblet, who joined the Army National guard in 2007, and is still currently serving in Alpha Battery 1/134 Field Artillery Regiment out of Delaware, Ohio, is married to Kelsea and is dad to seven-month-old Micah.

“My wife saw the advertisement for the position at United Way and thought it would be a good fit for me. I am really glad I applied and feel that this is where I am meant to be,” said Noblet.

Joe Kleinknecht, director of the Galion Area Chamber of Commerce, said in an email that Noblet is passionate about helping the people of Crawford County and looks forward to learning everything about his position’s responsibilities with United Way.

Noblet said the goal for the new campaign that kicked off on Monday is $300,000, the same goal as last year.

“We reached about 87.7 percent of our goal last year so the decision was made to keep it the same for this year,” said Noblet.

The first fundraiser event for the new campaign is being held Saturday.

“We are having purse bingo and it sold out pretty fast,” said Noblet.

Other upcoming fundraisers include the Drive for Ford event on Oct. 15, Crossroads Fall Sale event on Nov. 10 and a reverse raffle on Nov. 19.

Noblet said the United Way of Crawford County helps fund more programs than some neighboring counties that are larger than Crawford County.

“We help fund 24 different programs under the areas of education, income, health, safety net and small grants,” said Noblet.

Some of the programs that are funded are part of the services of Ohio Heartland Community Action Commission, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, the Bucyrus Backpack Program and the Galion Golden Age Center.

For more information, call Noblet at (419) 468-4291, visit http://unitedwaycrawfordcounty.org or https://www.facebook.com/UnitedWayOfCrawfordCounty.