LIVE UNITED Y’All!

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

If you’re like me, every year you resolve to lose weight, eat healthier, exercise, quit a habit… Health is no doubt very important but what about other areas of our life where we may be less accustomed to setting a resolution. Do you include these too? What about resolving on some things that will also positively impact and improve the lives of others? Would you gain a sense of accomplishment from resolutions for others as much as you feel like you would from your personal ones like exercising more or losing 15 lbs?

Here are a few thoughts on other resolutions that, simple and obvious as they seem, can truly help improve your life and the lives of all in 2011. 

Give:  In order to either start giving or increase what you currently give then you will want to make sure you have something to give, right?  Giving a charitable donation is meaningful for yourself and those who are helped -whether you decide to support many causes and spread out your generosity or make a significant investment in work that matters to you—the bottom line is still the same. Steps to help you increase your giving might include increasing your financial stability, eliminating credit card debt and saving.   Looking for inspiration? Check out Carlo at Living Philanthropic. Carlo is a man of modest means but he vowed to give to charity every single day for one year. His mission is you only need to be rich in spirit and is built on a belief everyone can make a difference. He gives everyday. He is very cool in my book.

Advocate: Find your passion and share your opinions. Sign a Pledge to support education and check out how things might really change in your region if educational attainment was improved. Sustainable progress often requires changes in public policy. Do you know who your legislators are? Why not reach out to them? Join the campaign for the common good and work with United Way in your community and across the nation to cut the high school drop out rate in half. If you are still reading this then you could probably also thank a teacher.

Volunteer:  Resolve to give more of your time.  Whether it is an hour a week or an hour a month there are so many ways that you could honor and keep a new year’s resolution around volunteering. Have you checked out the needs lately in our community? Curious about the homeless population in our community? Want to help? Start here.

Advocacy, Education, General, Giving, Health, Income, Volunteering

By: Ron Halpern and Angie Ditsler

The goal of Gheens Bridges to Tomorrow is to encourage families to set goals for themselves and “dare to dream bigger.”  The Horn Opportunity Fund, a component of the Gheens Bridges to Tomorrow (B2T) initiative, was made possible by the Mildred V. Horn Foundation.  This fund was created to empower Family Leaders enrolled in B2T to reach their goals as described in their individualized success plans.  Funds can specifically be used to ensure families are able to access opportunities, like a new job, for example or to remove barriers for families that may be prohibiting them from reaching their goals.  For example, assisting a Family Leader with something as simple as a car repair or utility bill may, in turn, open up doors for someone to pursue a much larger goal or dream.  Below is the first of a series of success stories from Family Leaders enrolled in B2T who have achieved great success thanks to resources made available to them through the Horn Opportunity Fund.

Holly’s Story

            Holly T. is a mother of three who was able to turn her life around with the assistance of Gheens Bridges to Tomorrow and the Horn Opportunity Fund.  Holly felt unfulfilled at her previous job , and was having trouble paying her monthly bills.  Holly felt that her lack of a high school diploma was limiting her earning potential.  Holly’s dream was to work in the healthcare industry, but she had always lacked the technical skills and credentials needed to pursue her dream.  Holly was awarded Horn funds which enabled her to complete a healthcare GED class.  That particular class confirmed Holly’s career passion. She pursued her dream, and was soon awarded a Healthcare GED, which then led her to an associate position at the Plasma Center.  She is now financially stable and feels truly fulfilled in her career.   Holly’s dreams continue to grow, and she now has plans to continue her education even further.  “It’s been a Wonderful experience,” says Holly.

Education, General, Health, Income dream, Gheens Bridges to Tomorrow, Horn Opportunity Fund, Mildred V. Horn Foundation

As part of a professional credential process, I was recently asked to reflect on my own personal philosophy pertaining to my work as a volunteer administrator.  This quickly became less of a reflection and more of a personal commitment to myself, my volunteers, and my community.  I think it is fitting to share my commitment with you today, as we celebrate the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr. 

I believe that every person is capable of making positive change in this world.  All it takes is exposure and encouragement; exposure to all of the possibilities that exist through volunteering and encouragement to take the first step.  As an individual that is passionate about volunteerism, I have an internal urge to advocate that people be a part of something that is much bigger than themselves.  I assign myself the responsibility and privilege to help others unearth the skills, interests, and passions necessary to make change within themselves and their community. 

Volunteers are deserving of a capable, well-qualified leader.  It is important to me that I lead volunteers with honesty, fairness, knowledge, and confidence.  I must strive for excellence, within myself, my peers, my volunteers, and my volunteer program.  Taking advantage of educational opportunities and monitoring the pulse of current trends in the voluntary sector is essential to being a competent and successful leader.

Volunteers should always feel appreciated and understand the power of their work.  My interactions with volunteers should always demonstrate respect, appreciation and encouragement. 

Over the years my passion has intensified as I have witnessed the great stories and sacrifice of those who volunteer their time.  I have come to find that at the end of the day, it is the selfless work of the volunteers that make the true impact.  I am merely a steward of the ever constrained resource of time and talent that is bestowed upon the community by these incredible people. 

Thank you to all of you who give of your time, talent, and treasure…you truly make a positive change in this world!

Looking for ways to make change?  Check out over 250 local volunteer opportunities on our website www.metrounitedway.org

General, Volunteering

By Jan Sherrell 

I am not one to make New Year’s Resolutions. It isn’t so much the notorious belief of ‘why bother – we’re just going to break them anyway.’  It is more that if I decide to do something differently, if I get to the point where I want to change direction of something, I am not going to wait until January 1^st to do it. 

All that said, this year I am spouting a resolution or maybe my new mission statement. I know it sounds so corporate and that is not my style. I am going to live with the statement some would call it resolution of “Make Every Moment Matter.”  

My dear sister-in-law suddenly passed away August 28, 2010 at age 46. There began my resolution to live life to the fullest. I’m working to give those hugs when the spirit moves me. I want to tell people they have done a great job raising their kids while I still have that chance. I have to push myself to some social outings and make plans to see friends and family and not let time slip pass. I want to use my time productively with no regrets. 

I’ve just recently finished my Bachelor’s degree.  I now have FREE EVENINGS! Not sure what to do with myself. “Make Every Moment Matter” resonates through my thoughts as I clean up dinner and have an evening stretching in front of me. I’m entertaining possibilities of being a Big Sister (realistically I qualify as a Big Grandma, but I don’t want to talk about it). I’m already on a Board so I really want the next opportunity to be more hands-on. I’ll find it. I’ll work to “Make Every Moment Matter.” 

Are you living your mission? Are you making every moment matter? I’m not encouraging a frantic pace; I am just suggesting you follow your heart and live with no regrets. Visit www.metrountedway.org/volunteer to explore volunteer opportunities.

General, Volunteering Live United, Volunteer

Judy Schroeder 

In this season of giving, when we care so much that every child has a gift, do we need to remember that the best gift we ever give is the love that child needs so much?

I was in a remarkable gathering on my birthday this month. Yes, my family and friends are most remarkable, and I was blessed with very loving parents. But I was thinking about the group of parents I visited with that morning.

“2Not1.” Can you guess what it means? 

It’s actually a great title because it says exactly what it means:  Children deserve two parents, not only one.  Adults may have to live apart, but our children deserve both their fathers and their mothers as much as we, the adults of this world, can make that happen. 

There’s even a rising national movement among fathers who are creatively reclaiming their parenting role after separation from their child’s mother.

According to the National Drop-Out Prevention Center, parent engagement still makes the critical difference in young people’s lives. Students with involved parents, no matter what their income or background, are more likely to do better, try harder, be more involved, have better social skills, and finally graduate from school to hold jobs with incomes almost $10,000 better each year than the students who gave up and dropped out. Unfortunately, the National Principals Association also reports that 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. 

It’s just that much harder to be an involved parent when you are the only adult paying attention.

That’s why the extended family and community supports for both parents in a child’s life are so important.  

Empowering parents to support a child’s success is the best and longest-lasting gift we can give a child. That’s what we do in the Gheens Bridges to Tomorrow program. That’s what is working for Shawn Gardner as he organizes 2Not1. That’s why we ask every parent of an infant or toddler to fill out the Ages & Stages Questionnaire. That’s why our Neighborhood Engagement is focused on building Parent Networks. 

Loving, involved parents give a gift that lasts.

Advocacy, Education, General, Giving Children, Community, Education, Louisville, Neighborhoods, parenting

By: Mary Ann Steutermann

This time of year, thoughts turn to festive holiday gatherings. I have warm memories of family gathered around the Christmas tree laughing as presents were exchanged. Sometimes these gatherings were the only times during the year we’d see out-of-town relatives, and the opportunity to catch up with them was sometimes more fun than opening the gifts they brought.

Just this week, Metro United Way hosted a gathering of sorts. Fellow United Way personnel from Atlanta, Richmond, Nashville, Chatenooga, and Cincinnati joined us here in Lousiville. Each of our United Ways is working on developing plans to increase educational attainment in their communities through an initiative called Ready By 21. And the focus of this gathering was, well, gatherings.

We spent 3 days with our colleagues learning about new strategies for leading community gatherings that will help us learn much more about our communities aspirations for itself and how education connects to it. Sometimes in community work, we gain tons of “expert knowledge” at the expense of collecting “pubic knowledge.” The gathering this week taught us about how the very nature of gathering people together to share that goals and concerns has a power in itself.

This week’s gathering of United Ways had no real gift-giving and certainly no spiked eggnog, but being able to bring people together to learn new and better ways of bringing people together was itself a wonderful present.

Advocacy, Education, General advocate, Community, community change, Education, Live United, Metro United Way, Neighborhoods, United Way, youth

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

Ho, ho, ho….the jolly guy is coming soon and it’s about 18 degrees outside. While I am composing the blog from the comforts of a warm office, I realize there are many less fortunate in our community who benefit so much from support and funding provided by Metro United Way donors in our community.

It’s odd really how we can become so accustomed to our comfortable lives that we can lose a perspective for really just how lucky we are. A few years ago I stumbled upon this eye-opening video and it seems like a good year-end reminder as we look to helping those less fortunate in our community have a happy holiday, a warm place to sleep, a gift for their children or the comfort of enough food to enjoy a meal with their families. Consider the following:

If we could turn the population of the earth into a small village of 100 people, keeping proportions we have today, it would look something like this…

61 Asians

13 Africans

12 Europeans

8 North Americans

5 South America and the Caribbean

1 Oceania

There would be…50 women and 50 men

47 live in an urban area

12 people in the village are disabled

33 are Christian (Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Anglicans and other Christians)

21 are Muslims

13 are Hindus

6 are Buddhists

1 is Jewish

14 are non-religious or Atheists

12 practice other religions

 In the village, 43 people live without basic sanitation and

18 live without an improved water source

20 people own 75% of the entire village income

14 are hungry or malnourished

12 can’t read

01 adult, aged 15-49, has HIV/AIDS

If you keep your food in a refrigerator and your clothes in a closet, if you have a roof over your head and a bed to sleep in…

You are richer than 75% of the entire world population

21 people live on an amount equal to US$ 1.25 per day or less

This holiday season, I hope you can appreciate what you have and do your best to help create a better world for people where you live.

 United we can create lasting change and make sure that in our community, all kids have an opportunity to succeed in school regardless of their zip code, that families have the opportunity to become financially stable and people enjoy improved health. That’s what it means to LIVE UNITED.

General

By: Mary Ann Steutermann, Director of Education Initiatives

We all remember that special someone from long ago. The one who made us feel talented, intelligent, and important. The one that helped us discover new parts of ourselves and opened us to new possibilities. The one who only had to smile in our direction for us to feel significant. Oh, no . . . I’m not thinking of our first love. The one I’m thinking of right now is that special teacher we all had at one time or another who really made a difference.

I’ve been blessed to have a few of those special teacher in my life. Mrs. Randall, my first grade teacher, was kind and gentle with me when I cried the frightened tears of a little kid who was terrified of the school bus. Mrs. Ford, my high school accounting teacher, took the time to tell me that my work was excellent and that I had a great future before me. And Dr. Kemme, a literature professor I had in college, went out of his way to identify and encourage what he felt was a real talent for English language and literature. Similarly, I’ve been humbled by the outstanding teacher my son had had in his young school career. Miss Diane in preschool talked to him like she would any other adult, which made him feel respected and valued. And Mrs. Rogg in kindergarten opened him to the wonderful world of reading that now allows him to learn everything there is to know about Star Wars Clone Wars.

Who is that special someone for you? Who is the teacher who made you see yourself in a whole new light and helped you grow in confidence? Who is the teacher who transformed the experience of learning for your child? This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for all of the great teachers who have touched my life. Perhaps it’s the perfect time of year for you to do the same!

General Education, teachers, thanks

Judy Schroeder

Thanks-Living.  Did I get your attention?  I’m not trying to be cute. 

It just occurs to me that this wonderful holiday event of  Thanksgiving is small compared to the “thanks-living” opportunity we have every day of our lives.   

That might not be the best thing to say right now if you are running to get your house set up for the family or cooking the turkey and fixin’s all night! Quite big enough?  …YES, and much appreciated!

Just know that from here at Metro United Way we get to see the work y’all do all year long as volunteers, donors, and advocates for others.  You are so important!

The last time I was at Parkway Place Housing,  I saw the Dare to Care Mobile Pantry delivering staples. The delivery crew was down to only potatoes, but the remaining Somali-Bantu women gathered pounds and pounds of those up in the folds of colorful scarves and skirts, carrying them home wrapped on their backs like babies, planning the next few weeks’ meals. 

Yesterday I was there again in the home of the president of the Somali-Bantu Association, plotting how we could extend their self-help organization even further.  This time, I am even more impressed at how circles of caring people wrap around each other:   our broad community of donors, advocates and volunteers in business and labor ~ wrap around the donors, advocates and volunteers in our agencies and community efforts ~ which wrap around more donors,  advocates and volunteers in community organizations and families ~ who want to be strong enough again to “give back” as healthy, smart, hard-working community members.

That’s what I mean by Thanks-living, the caring community.  All year, every day that we work together is a way of giving thanks for gifts shared. 

So, prepare the feast!  Especially if, for now, it’s potato and turkey stew.  Eat United! LIVE UNITED!

General, Giving, Volunteering Community, community change, Giving, immigrants, Live United, Neighborhoods

By Jan Sherrell

It is November. November is the month we are more intentional about giving thanks. Heck, they named a holiday after it.

I thought I’d share some stories of Metro United Way agencies and their thankful clients.

Three year old Colten’s parents are thankful for Visually Impaired Preschool. When they were told at two months that their son Colten had significant vision impairment, Colten’s parents were scared. Now they are thankful that visiting VIPS allowed them to meet toddlers without sight learning to adapt and play and live to the fullest. They had millions of questions regarding Colten’s diagnosis and prognosis. They are thankful VIPS staff helped them find the answers.

Mrs. C is thankful for the daily phone calls she receives from Multi-Purpose Community Action volunteers. She is very appreciative of someone showing an interest in her and being available to offer other resources when she needs them. Mrs. C looks forward to the phone call daily; they are her window to the world.

Patrick is a 45 year-old male with mental challenges. In 2007 he was living in a homeless shelter. Now Patrick knows how to do numerous industrial tasks at Custom Quality Service’s sheltered workshop. Patrick is thankful for his own place and for Custom Quality Services giving him a chance at independence.

Eighty-three year old Mr. G admits he sometimes has to force himself to attend the Arthur S. Kling Center. His poor health and no energy can make it a struggle to get motivated. But he knows that when he gets there he will enjoy the camaraderie. He enjoys a hot lunch, plays pool, exercises and uses the computer. He is thankful for the social workers available there to help him and their care for him inspires Mr. G to visit others in poor health.

And me?  I’m always thankful for the contingent of agencies serving our community and improving lives. What are you thankful for?

General, Health, Income Agencies, community change, Give Thanks, Live United, parenting, United Way