It’s time to “Give United”
United Way working to raise $875,000 in 2010 campaign
27 August 2010
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"2010 is the year of financial responsibility," said Jim Cox, United Way's 2010 Volunteer Campaign Chair. "Coming out of the recession, something on everyone's mind is being able to stretch our dollars and make them go as far as they possibly can."
Cox stresses that donors do that when they give to United Way, which is positioned to help solve local community issues more efficiently and effectively than other regional and national entities. He cited new standards United Way required last year of its funded partners to ensure greater accountability and measurable results.
"We shifted from straight agency funding to program funding," Cox said. "This increases accountability of the agencies to show outcomes of their programs and produce results. Donors require this accountability and your gift to United Way gives it to you. Your money goes farther with United Way."
In addition, 82 cents of every dollar given goes directly to programming, far exceeding the Better Business Bureau standard of 65 cents or more.
United Way funded programs impact more than 22,000 Union County residents in four areas: Emergency and Basic Needs, Youth Services, Senior Services, and Health and Human Services. Some of the results have been dramatic. In West Mansfield, Dallas and Eloise Dowell will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary this fall. Last year, they weren’t so sure they would be able to. Eloise had developed an atypical form of dementia and doctors thought she would die. After several overnight bouts that caused Dallas to take his wife to the emergency room, the family connected with Loving Care Hospice, a United Way program. 98% of all hospice patients do pass away within several months. But in this rare and joyful case that doctors haven’t been able to explain, Eloise turned around to the point that she is no longer on Hospice care and enjoying life with her husband.
“Hospice just took a burden I was carrying off of me,” Dallas said. “I knew that somebody was going to be there to take care of her.”
In Raymond, firefighter Bryan Oiler is fighting a different battle – prostate cancer. He is one of 76 individuals to receive financial assistance through the Union County Cancer Society this year. He gets money to reimburse him for gas mileage to and from treatments in Columbus.
“I’m the one usually giving the help and not taking it, so the tables were turned,” said Oiler. “The treatments and cost, along with the emotional toll on me and family has been something new to us. But the United Way and Union County Cancer Society stepped up to the plate and hit a home run! This really came at a time of need. I never thought we would be in such a financially difficult rut. But United Way came through. I guess the stories are really true. They are a helping hand.”
Elsewhere:
The Salvation Army’s Homeless Prevention Program, United Way’s top-funded program, helped 274 local people maintain their permanent housing through the first six months of the year. The program provides rent or utility assistance if there is an eviction notice or shutoff, along with six months of follow-up to ensure it doesn’t happen again. The Salvation Army has a 100% success rate with the clients they serve.
More than 200 middle and high school-aged teenagers have been using the new North Star Center in Richwood since it opened last June. The youth center provides teens with a positive choice after-school and during the summer.
Over 1,100 Union County children under the age of five have enrolled in United Way’s Dolly Parton Imagination Library, an early-childhood literacy program that provides a free book via U.S. mail to each child every month until their fifth birthday. 84% of those enrolled have shown increased their language skills and 83% of their parents say they spend more time reading with their child since they started receiving the books.
272 prescriptions for uninsured residents have been filled with United Way’s help at the Plain City Free Clinic through the first six months of the year.
The Legal Aid Society has an 80% success rate in the 180 cases in which they served low-income and senior citizens last year.
Over 2,000 senior citizens are members of four senior centers funded by United Way (Windsor & Community Seniors, Community & Seasoned Citizens, Richwood Civic Center, and the Pleasant Valley Seniors).
The average individual gift to United Way of Union County last year was $162. But officials stress that a person does not have to give a lot to make a big difference.
“You could give as little as 50 cents a week in payroll deduction,” said Dave Bezusko, United Way’s Campaign & PR Director. “You can’t even buy a can of pop for 50 cents anymore. But with that 50 cents each week, you could provide a warm, home-delivered meal to six home-bound senior citizens unable to cook for themselves through Memorial Meals. You could provide the gift of reading for 10 children through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. You could provide a family of four with a week’s worth of toiletries through the Personal Needs Pantry. You could put up a homeless person for a night at the Marion Shelter Program.
“And then your gift gets matched by your company. Or it’s pooled with others in the community. Then you can see how United Way is really able to stretch those donor dollars unlike any other community resource.”
United Way reminds those who commute to work outside Union County to designate "Union County" when making their United Way gift through work, to ensure that the dollars will make their impact here at home. Those who work in a workplace that does not conduct a campaign may give individually online (at www.unitedwayofunioncounty.org), by mail (PO Box 145, Marysville, Ohio 43040), or by phone (937-644-8381).