LIVE UNITED Y’All!

Do you remember your first day of school?  I still remember mine.  I was barely 5 years old and didn’t know anyone in my classroom.  I was nervous and confused. I couldn’t understand why I had to sit in my chair when there were so many toys throughout the room that I could be playing with.  Or why I had to have “nap time” when I would have rather been watching my favorite cartoons at home.  In short, it was a stressful day. 

The transition to kindergarten isn’t an easy one for kids.  But we can make it as smooth as possible by making sure the children in our community are prepared when they arrive.  It is our long-term goal that by 2018 all children in our community will be prepared to enter kindergarten.  How can you help?

I’m so glad you asked!  This year, 25 area schools in Jefferson and Floyd Counties will hold Camp Kindergartens.  During Camp Kindergarten children will be able to meet their teacher, take a tour of their school and learn bus safety – all to prepare them for their first day of school!  Soon-to-be kindergarteners will also receive backpacks and school supplies that they will use throughout the year. 

This is where you come in!  Your workplace or civic group can participate by adopting a Camp Kindergarten school or classroom and collecting the needed supplies for them.  You might even be able to volunteer on the day of your site’s Camp Kindergarten and see the smiles on the kids’ faces when they get their backpacks.

Just click here for a list of schools and instructions on how to get involved!

Education, General, Giving, Volunteering

Blake with a basket of goodies!

By Patty Belden

Imagine my delight when I read on Facebook that my 13-year-old niece, Blake, was planning a bake sale to benefit the animals affected by the April oil spill. Since a very young age, she has been interested in helping others so I wasn’t surprised, but I was very impressed. I couldn’t wait to learn more. After talking with her, I learned that she came up with the idea and planned everything all on her own! She knew she couldn’t travel down to the coast to help, so she planned to do something locally. She decided that raising money was the best thing she could do to help. She loves to bake (and makes GREAT treats!) so choosing to hold a bake sale was easy. She recruited the help of her friend Zach and they got to work.<

Blake researched organizations online and chose to raise money for the Audubon Nature Institute. She found contact information and sent an email. They responded and gave Blake all the information she needed to hold her fundraiser.

Next step, pick a date and location and start marketing. They chose to set up shop near a baseball field on a Saturday when games were being played all day (good thinking!). She and Zach made posters and hung them all around the area. They even used social media marketing and posted information on Facebook!

The day of the sale they were ready! But to their surprise they weren’t getting much business. They knew they needed a new plan. They loaded their baskets went through the stands. Business started picking up! It still wasn’t quite enough so their effort went one step further – they went into the neighborhood. They went door-to-door until all of the baked goods were sold out!

Overall, they made $132.00 to send to the Audubon Nature Institute. They had such a good time with the bake sale that they decided to make this a summer-long effort. Zach is working on creating a website where they can advertise all of their upcoming events.

I’m so proud of my niece and her friend. They found something they believed in and took action. When I asked Blake why she was doing this, she answered,

I saw one picture of the animals covered in oil. It made me really upset to think that hundreds of animals are being covered in oil. I decided that I didn’t want to be one of those people that just say ‘oh, that’s sad,’ and then move on with my life. I wanted to do something about it.

What a great example of LIVING UNITED. Do you know other young people who are Living United in our community? Share your stories in the comments!<

Way to go Blake! You are an inspiration to us all!

Events, General, Giving, Volunteering bake sale, baking, blake dykes, fund raising, fundraiser, oil spill, patty belden

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

This post is all about the United Way campaign in Scranton that Dunder Mifflin hosts to benefit United Way. That would be the Lackawanna County United Way in case you were wondering.  When the folks give at The Office they are helping advance the common good and create opportunities for a better life for all.

And just why would I share a post with you about the Dunder Mifflin campaign you ask?  Well I will tell you.  It’s because they do such a great job with their campaign at The Office that they are even an award winning company!

I promise I don’t make this stuff up. Look on the wall next time you watch and perhaps by the copier and just maybe you will see it there too. It is the Dunder Mifflin Extraordinary Campaign award from United Way.  Yep, that’s right the good folks at The Office care about their community and their neighbors and they are all part of the change they want to see in their community. 

My guess is that Dwight Schrutte used to organize the campaign. I think that this year Pam Beesly will be appointed by Michael Scott the CEO to serve as the campaign coordinator for The Office.  Michael sees great leadership potential in Pam and knows that she could do a great job making plans and working with the United Way staff.  Pam will love her new role and enjoyed making friends and meeting other coordinators in the community who run campaigns for their workplace.  

Pam will do her part each fall to organize an efficient and fun campaign that offers all her co-workers the chance to give, advocate and volunteer. They all feel proud of the award on the wall and the fact that when they each do their part that they can make a big difference in Scranton.

Some of the associates at The Office will help Pam with the campaign by planning fun events to celebrate their campaign and thank their donors. Dwight said that Meredith  likes supporting the campaign because it helps so many organizations. They all find that having their United Way campaign at The Office provides for a team-building experience.

So now I want to know just a couple things. Seriously for a moment please….The Office hosts a United Way campaign –does your company?  If your answer is ‘no’ then I don’t want it to be because you were never asked. If you don’t have a campaign and you want your company to be in good company alongside community corporate leaders at companies of all sizes like UPS, GE, Humana, Kroger, Atlas Machine or Deco Paper then let us help you get on board. It’s easy, fun and efficient. We would welcome the chance to start a relationship with you where together we can accomplish more than any one organization can alone.

Please join us this year. We all win in our local community when children succeed in school, families are financially stable and people enjoy good health. We want YOU and your company to join us this year and be part of the community campaign.

If you do have a campaign for Metro United Way, then I of course want to say ‘thank you’ for caring and sharing. You make it all happen here. You make our home town a stronger, better place to live and work. Even in the face of challenging economic times you and your company have made it a priority to help people in crisis now with basic needs support while taking on issues that are going to make our community stronger in the future. A heartfelt thanks to you and your office!

General, Giving, Volunteering Giving, Metro United Way, Start a United Way campaign, The Office, Workplace Campaign

by John Nevitt

I heard a statistic not too long ago that very few Americans know their neighbors except for those on either side of their home or apartment. Why should that be troubling to us? Well, if it truly takes a village to successfully raise a child, we need to know who we can turn to in our neighborhoods for help. Plus, if we want to reduce our chances of being burglarized, the more neighbors we know, the more sets of eyes to help protect our property.

Another reason to get to know your neighbors is to strengthen our broader community. Our vision at Metro United Way is to build the most vital, caring community in the nation. We accomplish this by getting to know one another, sharing ideas, stories, (and food) which leads to a sense of connection, and more often than not, a group of allies who are there to support us.

A number of years ago, I took a leadership development class that encouraged us to design a project that would enhance a “community” of our choosing. Community can be defined as a group of interacting people sharing a common geography, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, etc. I chose to work with two neighborhood communities – the east end neighborhood where I lived and the inner city neighborhood where I worked. I wanted to get to know some of my neighbors better and foster a sense of connection within our broader Louisville community.

Essentially, I organized a neighborhood exchange where we could share a meal together and get to know one another. We gathered in a circle and asked everyone to talk about their hopes, dreams and aspirations, and what was helpful to them along their pathway and what did they see were the barriers. As I listened, it was interesting to hear some major differences between the two groups of neighbors, but I was more intrigued by what we had in common. I created an intention that participants would experience a sense of connection, and would have a better appreciation and understanding of residents from another neighborhood. As we debriefed from our gathering, many reported the recognition that, though very different on the surface and facing very different challenges, we all want the same thing for ourselves and our loved ones and there was an immediate sense of connection.

Deep down, I believe that what we all want is for our children to be successful in school and beyond, we want to be self-sufficient, and we want to experience good health throughout our lifetime. In other words, we care about education, income, and health, the three building blocks of Metro United Way.

So, how do we help ensure we have what we all want? Getting to know our neighbors is a great place to enhance our chances for success by tapping into the caring power of our local community. Consider inviting your neighbors to a pot-luck dinner, join (or start) a neighborhood association, organize a block party, or begin a book club or discussion group with your neighbors. It only takes a small step to get started, and the potential rewards are tremendous.

For a list of ideas on how to meet community residents and to get more involved in your community, visit the website www.bettertogether.org/150ways.

What step will you be taking in the upcoming weeks?  Do you have a great success story about building neighborhood connections that you would like to share?<

Advocacy, Education, Health, Income building community, Common good, Community, connection, Neighborhoods, neighbors

By Kerri Cokeley et al.

Photo by Flickr user Phil Dowsing / eco-photography - click for link!

School’s out – will the summer be a learning time for young students?

The summer months can be a time of wonderful opportunities for kids – recreation, creative expression, vacation, and enrichment. But this is not the case for all young people. In fact, youth in our community without access to quality summer programs are unable to learn and grow during these months.

All young people experience a loss of skills when not engaged in learning over the summer just as an athlete or musician would without practice. However, while middle and upper-middle class families can expose their kids to camps, museum, swimming lessons, vacations and other hands-on learning opportunities, summer is a time when class differences tend to separate those who have from those who have not. Young people in high-poverty communities face greater risks of experiencing knowledge and skill losses.

Some of our community’s students will fall behind.

In fact, children from low-income families fall behind an average of 2-3 months in reading while their middle-income peers tend to make slight gains. By 5th grade, some of these children of low-income families will have a 2 to 3 year academic delay.

Metro United Way is helping make a difference for our community’s students this summer. Here’s one example of how!

St. Michael School and Community Childhood Center has been a summer resource for children in Charlestown, Indiana for 20+ years. The goal of their 2010 Summer Camp is to provide children with opportunities to gain knowledge through rich experiences using best practices that bridge the learning gap. Kids’ creativity and imagination are developed in an environment that promotes discovery, and all children are expected to achieve their personal best.

Children who participate in this camp get a variety of services and opportunities:

• Assistance in health and nutrition
• Physical activity
• Academic support in reading, math, writing, science and social studies
• Field trip experiences
• Guest speakers
• Opportunities for enrichment and choice
• Small group tutoring
• Art and music activities
• Incentives for making good character choices

Unfortunately, a budget shortfall may mean that children who need this opportunity the most, but whose families cannot afford it will have to do without. So, the Metro United Way Clark County Community Solutions Committee is investing $5,000 for a matching grant to help address the budget shortfall in hopes that no child will have to be turned away from this summer camp experience regardless of his or her family’s ability to pay.

This investment of matching funds will allow many students in the Charlestown community to become engaged in this summer-long program that will provide them with access to high-quality educational and developmental opportunities.

Want to be a part of it?

If you are an educator and would like to volunteer time for this effort, or if you work for a business that may be willing to serve as a location for a field trip, or if you have an skill set that would be an interesting topic for a guest appearance, let us know that you would like to get involved too!

Education, General Charlestown Indiana, St. Michael School, summer youth programs, summertime

by Natalie Harris

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid - click for link

Oh, the iPhone.  In my house, it made an appearance just a few months ago.

Boy. has it ever.

My husband really can justify having one (he runs his own business, has no assistant, and is out visiting sites all over the city throughout the day),  but as his attachment to this lovely little device grows and grows, so does my level of frustration.

“But look at all that it helps me do!” he says.  He can send e-mail while at a jobsite!  He can get directions!  He can check prices!  He can take photos!  He can miss conversations!  He can forget to talk to our toddler!  He can help our teenager tune out even more by handing it to him at family functions!

Harrumph.

So when I came across this New York Times article yesterday, The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In, did I ever get excited.  Proof!  Validation of my recent tirades in black and white!  Sudden reason to examine my commitment to my laptop!  Wait — uh-oh.

As I overheard a friend of mine saying last night, “It’s hard being married to a righteous man.”  Ouch.  Turns out I’m the righteous one in the family, and the problem with all that righteousness is that you start to become blind to your own flaws;  I am just as guilty of distraction by way of e-mail, facebook, or, irony of ironies, The New York Times website.

I know that in this world where everyone –work, family and friends – expects us to be accessible all the time that it’s incredibly difficult to turn off all that distraction.  But as the article above points out, this constant need to stay connected electronically gets in the way of the meaningful connections in our lives, especially with our children.

Young children, in particular, need that connection to us.  They need it to develop language skills, to build their social skills, and to simply engage and learn about the world around them.  When we’re tuned into the smartphone at the playground, or even at the grocery store, we’re missing critical opportunities for learning.

As part of our Success By 6 work, one of the major initiatives here at Metro United Way, we’ve connected to a nationwide program called Born Learning.  Born Learning promotes using everyday life as a learning opportunity, and offers lots of guidance and suggestions on how to make it happen.  For many of us, this may seem intuitive, but I know I could definitely use a refresher, and to remember to turn off the computer between the hours of 5:00pm-9:00pm ( AND to hide that iPhone).

Education, General Children, early childhood, Education, parenting, reading, Success By 6, youth

By the admin (Erin McMahon)

Greetings faithful blog readers!

Photo courtesy of Flick user bennylin0724 - click for link

I just wanted to share a quick note with you to apologize for any oddities you may have been experiencing lately. We recently updated our hosting service for this blog and it seems a few wires were crossed in the process.

I think it’s fixed now, but if you continue to experience weirdness with the RSS feed or automatic emails, please let me know.

And as a reward for your patience, please enjoy this humorous, quick and ultra-cute kitten video.

(kitten video link)

General cute kitten video, technical difficulty

by Gil Betz

“… I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep…” Robert Frost, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Promises are very important statements. A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. Promises come in many forms-  affirmations, vows, oaths and the all too familiar “election promises.”

Reflect in your own life about promises. My kids would “promise” to clean their rooms, or get their homework done or wash their hair. And I have promised many times to take out the garbage. Some promises I made years ago, I have kept. Some promises I have not kept. There is great satisfaction when I know I have kept my promise.

I subscribe to the Agitator. The Agitator is a daily blog discussing funding strategies and trends for nonprofit organizations. What follows is an article from the May 12^th 2010 edition of the Agitator. The article is about the importance and value nonprofits can accrue by making “promises” and keeping them.

Go ahead, make a commitment!

That’s the advice of David Kravinchuk at the FLA Group, a Canadian fundraising consultancy.

David argues that few donors these days give out of a sense of duty or obligation or blind trust, as older generations did.

Today’s donors want to see results. If you want their contributions, your nonprofit must promise — then deliver — some kind of results.

And so that leads to David’s advice:

1. When you solicit a gift, promise a specific return on the donor’s investment.
2. When you thank the donor for the gift, re-commit to delivering on the promise.
3. Finally, show the ROI being delivered in as many ways as you can. In your newsletters. On your web site. With email messages. In your next appeal (before you ask again).

He adds: “Promises that are kept build trust, just as they do in your own friend and family relationships. Trust is the first step to loyalty. And in today’s charitable economy, loyalty is the key to your charity’s financial ROI.”

That’s pretty sound advice.

Sure, you can’t promise to cure cancer or end global warming in 90 days. But what can you promise that would represent progress? That you can deliver upon. That signals your willingness to be held accountable for how effectively you will use your donor’s contribution.

What promise is your nonprofit able and willing to make?

So what promise is Metro United Way able and willing to make and keep?

Here are some promises that one of our staff members provided when asked that question:

• We promise to use your donation effectively and efficiently.
• We promise to make your investment go further than any other non-profit can by bringing in over $50 million in resources to our community, investing in 50 programs and services that touch 300,000 people in our community, connecting 60,000 individuals to find the help they need through 2-1-1, feeding 150,000 hungry people, engaging 10,000 volunteers, and advocating for public policies that have a positive impact in providing a better life for all.
• We promise, by 2018, to make sure that all the children in our community arrive in kindergarten ready to succeed AND to improve our community’s high school graduation rate from 73% to 87%.

Now it is your turn. Please respond to this post by suggesting promises you believe Metro United Way should make and keep.

Education, General, Giving Agencies, Children, Community, making a difference, promises

By Erin McMahon

I know a lot of people don’t completely ‘get’ what Metro United Way does. They know we help people and raise money, but not much else. When I explain that what we do goes a lot deeper, I often recite the Ogre Story. It really illustrates what we mean when we say, “Help for Today and Hope for Tomorrow.”

Flickr photo by World of Oddy – click for link!

A man in New Albany, Indiana is jogging by the Ohio River one morning. The man looks out into the water and sees a baby floating his way! The jogger rushes into the water, saves the baby, and brings the baby to shore. The baby is fine.

Relieved, the jogger looks back into the water and sees another baby floating by! He hurries back into the river and retrieves this baby safely as well.

The man returns to shore after saving the second baby, and much to his horror, now sees dozens of babies floating right underneath the Sherman Minton Bridge! The jogger cries out for help, and all of New Albany comes running to the river to save as many babies as they can.

At this moment, New Albany is a city that is mobilized. Every New Albanian is at the river, trying to save babies. At this moment, New Albany is improving lives. Many babies are being saved!

But – the babies keep coming, because no one is going upstream to put a stop to the ogre that is throwing the babies into the water in the first place.

United Way needs to gather a contingent of New Albanians to go upstream and stop the ogre. Otherwise, we will be pulling babies out of the water forever.

Help for Today… We save babies that are floating in the river.

Hope for Tomorrow… We also find out why babies are floating in the river and work to change that! Maybe the ogre just needs a hug!

So this doesn’t mean that Metro United Way is literally all about saving babies. If you want to know what our “babies” are, check out parts of our website to learn more about Metro United Way Agencies, 2-1-1, Success By 6, Gheens Bridges to Tomorrow and Ages & Stages Questionnaires.

So do you ‘get’ this story? Does it clarify a bit what we’re trying to do? What other stories or parables have you heard or told to help explain the work that nonprofits do to make change in our community?

*** Note: The Ogre Story’s been floating around United Ways for some years now. I don’t know United Way Worldwide created this story, or perhaps some other United Way, but this is my localized version. Please comment if you know the originator so I can give credit! ***

General Help for Today, Hope for Tomorrow, Ogre Story

By Angie Ditsler

I’m sitting here at my desk reflecting back over the last few weeks about interesting people I’ve met or conversations I’ve had. Sure, I’ve had a lot of conversations with coworkers and volunteers about work-related matters and big projects coming up.  I’ve also spent plenty of time talking to my husband and friends about the recent primary elections and our impending vacation coming up in a couple days. However, the most memorable conversations I’ve had in recent weeks have been with my 22-month-old nephew Jack.

Now don’t get me wrong; talking to Jack isn’t quite the same as talking to Warren Buffet, but in a lot of ways Jack makes me think and laugh just as hard. I usually don’t make it up to Cincinnati more than once a month to visit him so I treasure the time we get to spend together. When I last saw him on April 14, Jack was talking a mile a minute although I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. This time, when I went to wake him up from his nap on Saturday and asked him if he knew who was waiting downstairs to see him, he not only listed every relative in three generations and our pets, but he also raised his little eyebrows and looked me square in the eyes and said, “I throw the ball?” (It actually sounded more like, “I fro da ba?”) I immediately knew Jack was referring to our dog Dubs whom he loves to play fetch with when we come to visit.

I was stunned! I understood every word he said. Not only that, but I couldn’t believe he was putting three and four words together to form phrases and sentences already. In just a few short weeks, Jack had expanded his vocabulary by at least a dozen words and was actually able to carry on brief conversations- of course, they were about things like doggies, bath time, and his baby sister Cece. Still, it was the first time I had to pause and think, “Wow, the Little Man is really growing up.”

Watching Jack grow has been the most exciting thing to happen in my life so far. It’s amazing to see how much he’s learning and how quickly he’s changing every time I see him. Jack is a daily reminder of how important the first six years of a child’s life truly are. He’s a vacuum to the words, behaviors (and, yes, even dance moves) that are modeled around him. Every sound, sight, touch and taste is a learning experience for Jack- and it’s an absolute delight watching him learn.

For more information about the importance of early childhood visit www.metrounitedway.org/successby6.

Education early childhood, early childhood education, early learning, Success By 6