LIVE UNITED Y’All!

By Sarah Heine

National Volunteer Week provides the opportunity for organizations and communities to thank the volunteers who work so diligently year round, donating their time, money and support to help make our community the most successful and positive place it can be. It also gives Metro United Way a chance to spotlight and thank some of the volunteers in our community who have made volunteerism a huge part of their day-to-day lives.

Interning in the Volunteer Engagement Center here at Metro United Way has provided me with the opportunity to learn about the organizations serving our community. It has also allowed me to meet  some of the volunteers who are so vital to the continued success of these organizations and of Metro United Way and to learn about their experiences and motivations for giving back.

A few weeks ago, I chatted with Ilma Hirsch about her volunteer experiences and her relationship with Metro United Way. She is an absolutely lovely 95-year-old woman who began volunteering with Metro United Way back when it was called Community Chest.

Ilma talked about the timelessness of volunteerism, how it is just as necessary today as it was when she was young, and how it enriches not only the organizations, but also the lives of the individuals who commit their time and energy to volunteering. We talked about the importance of integrating volunteerism into one’s life and of passing on that importance to the next generation. Ilma felt that was especially important- one of her greatest donations to the community she served was her children’s activism and community involvement.

Ilma also talked about getting involved with organizations that give the volunteer a personal connection with the work that they are doing. Ilma first got involved with Metro United Way through her involvement with the the  National Council of Jewish Women. Having a connection to the work you are doing enriches the experience for both the organization and for the volunteer.

I really enjoyed speaking with Ilma and hearing her perspectives and anecdotes about her experiences as a volunteer and with Metro United Way long before either I, or Metro United Way (in its current form) were around. As a young volunteer it is easy to forget I am not the first, and will not be the last community member doing what I can to give back. Volunteering always has been and always will be vital to the success of organizations and communities alike.

Do you volunteer? If so, where? Is there a personal connection or reason you give your time to that organization? If you are not already involved and would like to be, Metro United Way provides resources for volunteer opportunities across Kentuckiana on our website.

Whether you volunteer now, have in the past, or would like to in the future, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you. Your time and energy really do make a difference.

THANKS!

Volunteering Community, community chest, Metro United Way, National Volunteer Month, thank you, Volunteer Engagement Center

By Jan Sherrell

Trying to name one volunteer to blog about during April, Metro United Way Volunteer Month, is like asking me to name my favorite kid. It is even harder because I have two kids, making that a 50/50 choice, and I have about 45 volunteers, making it a real tough choice.

When I first started at Metro United Way, I viewed volunteers as just one more task to take care of on my list. I would make reminder phone calls, make sure all their materials were prepped, and perhaps cater to them by having their favorite diet Big Red on hand for meetings.

Now after nine years of watching the dynamics of volunteers, I recognize they are catering to US at Metro United Way. They are bringing their valuable resources of time and experience to serve the community through Metro Untied Way by participating in the agency review process I help facilitate. These generous volunteers read 20 page reports, drive across town and find parking, all to engage in sometimes difficult conversations.

Volunteers bring such insight, life experience and topical knowledge to these conversations and decisions. I really enjoy getting to know my volunteers. They become more than a means to an end; they become friends.

I won’t use the word favorite, because that might hurt the feelings of my other 44 volunteers, but Judy Lyons is one of my “strongest” volunteers. She is a retired agency director, and that gives her unique insight to agency reviews. She is also a sweet soul; she can find the volunteers in the room feeling less confident and sure and buddy right up to them and mentor them along. When in committee, she brings the conversation back around to where it needs to be and is generous in helping us understand all the challenges faced by agencies and their clients. She seems to really enjoy volunteering and intentionally makes time for it in her busy retired life.

So now instead of feeling like I’m catering to a volunteer when I make sure they have hot fresh coffee, or resend them documents they’ve misplaced, I totally recognize they are catering to me by being a strong important part of Metro United Way work.

Does your work involve volunteers? Do you have a favorite? Or perhaps you are the volunteer – do you have a favorite staff?

General, Volunteering Agencies, appreciation, community service, making a difference, Metro United Way

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

I am old enough to remember rather vividly when Billie Jean King took the court to play Bobby Riggs. This fact really has very, very little to do with much about me except I really wanted her to win. Having lived through more than a few decades, I will attest the times they are a-changing. So this post unfolds as Score 1 for the Women.

An amazing thing has happened over the last decade. Women now give more to charity than men. That’s right. Women on average donate twice as much to charity and make 3 times the number of donations as men. Although there is still a disparity in the equality of work and pay, even still, women are leading the way when it comes to charitable giving.

According to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, collectively, women support a variety of causes but the research shows that the majority is designated for the needs of children, creating opportunities for women, education and health issues.

Today’s affluent donor is just as likely to be a woman as a man and the research shows that women want something different from their philanthropic giving. No surprise there. Of course we do.

Women want to create new solutions for old problems. Women want to enjoy a personal connection to an organization and they want to collaborate and work with others as part of a larger effort. Women want to win and they want to make the world a better place and they want their lives to make a difference in the lives of others. When women can do this through giving it makes them feel empowered. Last but not least, women want to celebrate…or socialize with others!

Now, consider this…3 of every 4 people living in poverty in the United States are women and children. Yet even so, women with annual incomes less than $10,000 who are often homemakers with children gave 5.4% of their income to charity – the largest income to gift percentage for giving!

At Metro United Way we know that we all win in our community when children succeed in school, when families are financially stable and people have improved health. 

Wanna know more about what women want? Well just ASK. Seriously, if you ask a woman for her opinion, she will more often than not give it to you. Listen and learn. Want to know more about how to improve lives in our community and create opportunities for a brighter tomorrow for men, women and children in our community? Together we will accomplish more than any single organization or man…or woman can alone.

Giving, Income, Volunteering Add new tag, Metro United Way, Women and Charitable Giving

By Sommer Lally

The first day of Spring is tomorrow and I don’t know about you but, for me, it can’t get here soon enough!  Maybe it has something to do with my name but I hate cold weather like a cat hates water so, the arrival of Spring is always something I look forward to.  But this year I am especially excited.  You see, I bought my first house last fall and I’ve not yet been able to enjoy basking in the sunshine in my new yard. 

My husband and I already purchased and assembled (okay, okay, he assembled) a grill and have plans in the works for patio furniture.  Even better, I’ve talked him into making improvements to our landscaping.  As you can see, right now the landscaping leaves (no pun intended) a little to be desired.

I’m thinking some nice evergreen shrubs and some leafy bushes might do the trick.  There’s just one little catch.  As I’ve been reading up on landscaping tips, it has become clear – much to my chagrin – that we won’t reap the benefits immediately.  It will take years for the shrubs and bushes we plant this spring to grow and mature into the beautiful landscape of my dreams.  Slowly but surely, it will get there.  I just have to be patient, which is not my strong suit.

When I think about it, landscaping is kind of like the work around community change that we’re doing here at Metro United Way.  Community change doesn’t happen over night, it takes years to see the results of the work you’re putting in today.  But you better believe when 2018 rolls around and all of the children in our community are prepared to enter kindergarten and half as many high students are dropping out, we will know that our efforts were worth it.

What about those of us who need to see the immediate results?  I would put myself into this category which is where the grill and patio furniture come in.  They’ll allow me to enjoy my yard immediately, albeit in a different way.  The same is true for our focus on basic needs here at Metro United Way.  Our investments in early childhood education and drop-out prevention will pay-off in the future while those in basic needs help the community right now. 

It helps me to think of our work in this way.  How do you think of Metro United Way’s work?  What helps you to better understand and communicate to others what we do?

Education, General Children, community change, early childhood, making a difference, Metro United Way

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

You may modify the recipe ingredients and feel free to substitute based on your desired results and the number of people you would like serve…

1 gallon of inspiration

2 cups of determination

2 cups of confidence

1 1/3 cup creativity

1 ¾ cup of gratitude

1 ½ cup of stick-to-it-iveness

1 ounce of prevention

Smidgeon of luck

Dash of all-spice

Pinch of encouragement

Mix

Stir

Shake

Knead

Whip

Allow the mixed ingredients a brief time to stew and simmer, check on your consistency and then bake–check midway through to make sure the result is looking good.

Share with your neighbors and celebrate!

What ingredients help you to be successful in your life? Work? Are they much the same or different?

General, Giving, Volunteering Community, Metro United Way, motivation, success

For today’s look into the Metro United Way team, I spoke to one of our talented and tireless team members in Donor Relations, Jennifer Humphreys. Watch the video the learn a little bit about her!

General Metro United Way, staff

To continue our series of Meet the Staff videos, I visited Lynn Smith to learn a little more about what she does in a day.

Check out her video to hear her answers to what she does, what is most challenging in her job, and when she enjoys her job the most!

General Metro United Way, staff

Education is an essential building block that leads to a better life for all and is key to improving our community. In an effort to improve the quality of education in our community, Metro United Way and Success by 6 unveiled two new tools at a press conference this morning.

The first is the Common Good Forecaster. It allows people to look up any county in the U.S., shows them the current education levels for that county and state. Using a sliding scale, the Common Good Forecaster also shows the direct correlation between increased levels of educational achievement and improvement in that community.

The second tool is the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, a part of the Help Me Grow initiative. The questionnaires are age appropriate surveys that a parent/guardian can fill out concerning their child and send back to Metro United Way to be scored. This questionnaire allows you to see how your child is developing and if they are on track for all the major milestones they need to accomplish in their childhood. To request your Ages and Stages Questionnaire, please visit the Metro United Way website or call 502-292-6211.

Education, Events, General Ages and Stages, Common Good Forecaster, Help Me Grow, Metro United Way, Success By 6

A recent survey of Metro United Way agencies indicated that many people in our community are struggling for a basic necessity- food. Our agencies that provide food assistance have seen a 40% increase in “first-timers” or people who have never sought food assistance before.

The statistics are astounding, but what really makes my heart ache is seeing how this affects so many people in our community- three children splitting one “happy” meal at the local fast food restaurant, seeing an elderly man dig through a garbage can on my commute home from work, hearing that a family friend lost his job, then his house, and ultimately his ability to feed his family of five. Its easier to read faceless statistics than to remember that this isn’t about numbers-its about people, right here in our community who don’t have enough to eat, and I’m sure you will agree that even one child in our community going to bed hungry is one too many…

You may be wondering, what can I do to make a difference?

Volunteer

In an effort to provide more food to more people, Metro United Way has partnered with Dare to Care to supply volunteers for additional Dare to Care Mobile Food Pantries around town. We are looking for groups of 10-12 to help distribute food at local Dare to Care mobile food pantry sites- please visit our website to sign up your company, church group or club.

Speaking of, the first pantry as a result of this partnership is happening today!! A big thank you to Youth Build and D.D Williamson & Co. for volunteering!

Advocate

Do you know someone who is struggling to feed his/her family? Whether it is food assistance or foreclosure advice, tell them to dial 2-1-1 for Metro United Way’s free, confidential health and human service assistance line. Help is available 24/7 in over 100 languages.

Give

To help families in our community who are in crisis, please consider a donation to Metro United Way. Did you know that a donation of $5.00 per week will provide one hundred warm meals to individuals at the Salvation Army Louisville Center for Hope?

For more information on how you can Live United please visit metrounitedway.org.

Photo by petit plat by sk_

Advocacy, Events, Giving, Income, Volunteering 2-1-1, advocate, Common good, Community, Giving, Live United, Louisville, Metro United Way, Volunteer

Hi!  Let me be upfront with you. I am pretty easily amused. I also am a curious person. Curious about people and what makes them tick…interested in what inspires people as individuals and groups to care – about our community, a particular cause, the greater good – and what is important to them personally when they give, advocate and volunteer. I also enjoy keeping an eye on what others are doing that’s a little …or a lot…unusual but reaching masses and raising funds for a worthy cause.

So with a preface stated, here are a few oddly funny things I recently came across that caused me to pause and say to myself WOW (remember we like that word at Metro United Way ) and hmmm.

Gorillas ….Ask people to raise $350 and dress like a gorilla to run 4 miles…nearly 1,000 people dressed up like a gorilla and ran… the 7^th annual Great Gorilla Run raised over $400,000. WOW!

Santas….Same premise but another visually entertaining sight while helping a worthy cause. Some 7,000 donned a red suit and white beard, laced up their running shoes and raised money for charity in New York.  There was even a Santa Speedo Run charity event that draws red hat revelers by the thousands and made for …um…funny photos as well!   Hmmmm.

And then there is Romeo the blogging cat. Yep, Romeo the Cat raised over $3500 via his blogging and Twitter activities. Really?

A recent New York Times submission to David Pogue’s blog reads in part…

Dear David:” My cat is on Twitter and he’s raised almost $3,500 in a little over THREE WEEKS for animal rescues… I launched a Twitter account for my cat…to make one of my colleagues laugh, but something interesting happened: Romeo started getting followers. There are a lot of humans, A LOT of other Twittering cats, some dogs and even hamsters, horses, turtles and birds.”  Caroline Golon

Metro United Way provides a highly efficient, easy path to increase the force of your charitable giving in our community. We leverage your giving to reach some 150 program at 90 organizations that will touch the lives of 2 of every 3 people in their lifetime.  We recently announced the 2008 annual campaign saw some 80,000 donors in our community collectively give/pledge $28.5 million to advance the common good.  It is here with us at Metro United Way where you can create lasting change, get help and give help, and make a significant lasting impact for children, adults and our community. 

If you also want to dress up in something unusual, run in your skivvies, or dance the night away like Cinderella then let us know. We want to hear from you. To our legion of 80,000 donors who have given from their hearts during these changing times to help their neighbors, co-workers, and people you may never meet,  THANK YOU for partnering with Metro United Way to change things for the better for all of us.

 Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

Events, General, Giving blogging, fundraising, Giving, Metro United Way