Loaves 'N Fishes soup kitchen may finally be able to serve a hot meal to those hungry for lunch.

The local nonprofit needed an industrial stove to serve the 10 to 15 people who wander through its north Grant Street doors.

Soon, secretary and treasurer Tonya Brigance said, the kitchen will have its stove courtesy of a $9,000 grant from the United Way of Natrona County.

Roughly $60,000 was left over from the 2007 United Way campaign, leaving the organization with thousands to give in seed money, system building and emergency grants, according to Executive Director Shanna Harris.

Even though Loaves 'N Fishes is not a partnering agency with United Way, it was one of 10 organizations to receive part of the funding.

Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming also applied and was granted a portion of the excess money. The roof on the main lodge at Camp Sacajawea on Casper Mountain was crumbling, said Kim Bennette, the program and property director for Girl Scouts.

The original roof was built in 1932, and while repairs were holding it together, it simply needed a new roof, Bennette said.

Girl Scouts is a partnering agency with United Way and works with about 270 girls for eight weeks from June through August.

Camp Sacajawea wasn't the only place with a patched and leaky roof.

Professionals repaired the Head Start building on B Street until they finally told Head Start officials that something needed to be done.

At one point, the dilapidated roof affected the building's fire alarm system, according to Clark Burden, executive director of Wyoming Child and Family Development, Inc. Professionals fixed the fire alarm, and because of $7,000 from United Way the center is on its way to a new roof.

The Salvation Army, another United Way partnering agency, received $8,000 for what they call a "canteen" or a kitchen on wheels.

The United Way money was a matching grant, said Salvation Army Cpt. Dan Wilson, with funding coming from other sources as well.

This year's United Way campaign, headed by Casper Star-Tribune Publisher Nathan Bekke, plans to raise $1.3 million for its partnering agencies.

Along with the 10 various grants, Bekke also announced a $25,000 "legacy gift" from Ione Ratcliff, the widow of local businessman and philanthropist Hardy Ratcliff. This type of gift is unusual, Bekke said, because the United Way generally functions by hundreds of volunteers working many hours to collect the goal amount.

The United Way partners with 29 Natrona County agencies, and in 2007 those agencies received more than 79,000 calls for aid.

Contact city reporter Christine Robinson at christine.robinson@trib.com or (307) 266-0639