What is United Way, Anyway?
It is always a challenge for me to describe what United Way is and what we do. Right now, we are finishing up our annual Allocation Process, which is one of my favorite activities that we do. In the fall, we conduct an annual fundraising campaign where we solicit contributions from corporations and their employees, businesses large and small throughout the community, and from individuals as well. We try to make the fundraising as much fun as possible but trying to raise a million dollars year after year can get pretty stressful, especially in today’s economic climate. But in February and the first part of March, we get to see precisely why we raise all that money. You see, the money we raise doesn’t stay with United Way. Oh, a portion of it does to cover our operating costs, but the remainder – generally about 75% - goes back into the community through the 24 other local organizations we help fund.
Every year, each agency that receives United Way funding must complete a thorough application to apply for funds for the coming year. The fall campaign funds the following year’s operations. While the agencies are working on gathering all of their information, we are busy recruiting volunteers to help with our citizens’ review. In most years, we actually go with the volunteers to the agency’s location, tour the facilities, meet the Executive Director and sometimes other staff, board members, and possibly someone who the agency has impacted. This year, thanks to COVID-19, we have had to conduct those visits via ZOOM. It has pushed us all out of our comfort zone, but overall it has been a great process.
I am always proud of our partner agencies and love sharing their work with our Allocation volunteers. This year their creativity has been inspiring! During one of our first visits to the Children’s Advocacy Center, an organization that does such important work with abused children, one of the staff members took us on a virtual tour with his phone. It was awesome for the volunteers to see where the children are interviewed and the observation room where local authorities, DFACS (Department of Family and Children Services), and others involved with the case can monitor the forensic investigator’s interview. This allows the child only to have to undergo one interview, and everyone’s questions get asked.
During the Boy Scout site visit, the volunteers and I were introduced to the first female scout in the Yellow Jacket District to attain the rank of Eagle Scout. She is an amazing young lady with quite a story, which she told us herself. Imagine my surprise when her story included her experience with the Child Advocacy Center earlier in her life! She is one of 58 Scouts in the Yellow Jacket District to earn their Eagle Scout Rank in 2020, despite COVID-19 and almost everything going virtual. However, I was delighted to hear that the scouts are still getting out for camping and hiking, and doing community service projects. One of the projects was Scouting for Food, which benefits another United Way Partner Agency, the Interfaith Food Closet.
The director of the Interfaith Food Closet, one of the three organizations under the LaGrange Personal Aid Association umbrella, took us on a tour of the canned goods room, where the scouts’ collection ended up. She then shared a video of how they have changed how they distribute food to those in need due to COVID-19. Rather than coming into the building, people register by phone, are given a pick-up time, and they drive up, open their trunks, and the volunteers place the food in the vehicle without making contact.
Many of these same volunteers also help with one of the most fun activities that go on there – the Empty Stocking Fund’s toy distribution. In a “normal” year, the inside of LaGrange Personal Aid is set up like a toy store with different rooms for different ages. After registering and being given an appointment time to shop, clients are greeted by a personal shopper, a volunteer, to assist them. The parents get to select the toys they would like for their children to receive, they can pick out books for them as well, and often leave with Christmas wrapping paper to complete the experience. The Volunteers truly get into the spirit of the season, as some dress up as elves, or even Santa. Even though this year the parents did not get to “shop” for their children, they could make requests that were met as closely as possible. Again they drove around, and a volunteer – often Santa himself - delivered the toys to their vehicle. Santa had so much fun he asked if he could wear the costume the rest of that day. He went to Wal-Mart and a few other stores, and shoppers clamored for pictures with him.
LaGrange Personal Aid is always a great visit. The director, Paul Stedman, has been with the organization for over twenty years. He loves his job! He will go out of his way to find ways to make life better for people. He helps with rent, utilities, prescriptions, and other things that have become barriers to work for people. I remember him telling me about a man who had gotten a job, but didn’t have the money for the steel-toed boots he needed to go on the job; Paul made sure he had the shoes. He and his staff also do the screening for Troup Cares, the Lion’s Club, and Wellstar Clinic. After taking over the Empty Stocking Fund, he keeps the left-over toys to give to children throughout the year. One mom came in for food and rent assistance, and during the interview, Paul asked if she had children. Upon finding out she did and how old they were, Paul selected a few toys for her. She started to cry, saying that it was her son’s birthday and she had no presents for him, and now she could celebrate with presents for him. God does work in mysterious ways!
If you are unfamiliar with Communities in Schools, you are missing out on one of the most comprehensive youth-serving organizations in our community. Tabitha Coverson and her staff have created an environment at Callaway High School in particular, where they try to address anything that creates a barrier for a student to succeed. They have a room set up where students can get clothes if they need them, hygiene items, foods they can take home, and this is all in addition to the academic and other counseling they provide for students. They even reach out to the parents and help with utilities, medical needs, or whatever might be holding a child back from success in school. They are also in the middle schools as well.
Communities in Schools reminds me of another one of our great partner agencies you heard about a few weeks ago: CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates. Many of the children that work with Communities in Schools are in Foster Care and have a CASA. I would encourage you to read the CASA Blog on Lewis and Broad and listen to the Podcast.
These are just a few of the agencies that we help provide funding for. The funds that we provide allow these caring and talented people to spend more time doing what they do best, and not raising all the funds they need to operate. But United Way does more than just provide funds; we see issues in the community and work to find solutions to these problems’ root causes. We have dedicated a lot of time and effort to help people understand the importance of Early Learning in a child’s life and the importance to the community. Children’s brains are 80% developed by the age of three and 90% by the age of five. Children who are read to, nurtured, and attend quality preschool are ready to learn when they enter kindergarten. They are more likely to be reading on grade-level by third grade, and are projected to graduate from high school at a higher rate than those children who enter kindergarten unprepared, as six out of ten children do.
In 2006, United Way started our Success by 6 program to raise the awareness of the importance of early learning and assist those working in that field. The Magnolia Society, United Way’s Women’s Leadership Council, grew out of the desire to expand that effort. As part of the Magnolia Society came a fundraiser, LaGrange Has Talent, explicitly dedicated to promoting Early Learning in Troup County. The Magnolia Society’s goal is that every child in Troup County will be fully ready for kindergarten. The funds raised through LaGrange Has Talent are available for early learning efforts through a grant process. One of the first and ongoing efforts provided through these grants delivers books to pediatricians’ offices and prescription pads that encourage parents to read to their children for 20 minutes Every Day, among other pertinent facts about reading and literacy.
Our early efforts with early learning led us to a “Get Georgia Reading Summit” in 2015 with several other like-minded people from LaGrange. This conference was a great inspiration to all of us, and out of that trip came The Jungle Bus, and the beginnings of Get Troup Reading. It has been a long road, but the efforts behind early learning are becoming a movement in Troup County!
I love what I do with United Way in our community. Before concluding, I must tell you what we did in response to COVID-19 to help our community. In the Spring of 2020, United Ways across Georgia and throughout the US created funds to help those most vulnerable who were impacted economically by COVID-19. We partnered with The Callaway Foundation and the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley. From there, we launched the Troup County Emergency Relief Fund with the promise of a $50,000 match from the Callaway Foundation. We announced the fund on May 5, 2020, through the United Way website, and before the end of June, we had reached $50,000 in contributions and received the matching funds. To date, we have raised a little over $160,000 and have granted over $97,000 back into the community through 501 (C)(3) organizations. These funds have helped with everything from PPEs, to rent, food, utilities, air filters for a school, school supplies, and much more.
I could go on telling you even more about what we do, but instead, I would just like to encourage you to check out United Way of West Georgia on our website:www.unitedwaywga.org.