LIVE UNITED Y’All!

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

I will admit that I love how Hank can bellow….Are you ready for some FOOTBALL? And, I am. I am ready and excited about the hiring of Coach Charlie Strong for the University of Louisville so I will attribute this seemingly football inspired United Way blog to this fact. The recent press conference introducing the new Coach won me over when he shared his heart and emotion over the joy of attaining his career dream of a head coaching position and the opportunity to lead a program. It was so easy to feel his sincerity when he spoke and now it will be even easier to pull for his success both on the field and in the community.

It continues to be an exciting time of year in NFL football also as the Indianapolis Colts and the Cincinnati Bengals continue to rack up the W’s. While these two teams are perhaps the closest we have in our region to a home NFL team, it doesn’t matter whether you are a Colts fan or on the “Who-Dey” train right now, the NFL is deserving of recognition for the longstanding partnership and support of the United Way movement. Did you know that for 35 years, thispartnership has been a shining example of the tangible good that can be leveraged into a powerful vehicle for real change in people’s lives and the community?  Check out how the NFL LIVES UNITED and see if you can find one of your team’s favorite players too!

Yes, Tis the season for football and also for giving thanks and sharing. The words THANK YOU are two of the most powerful words you can speak, share and that you can hear. Thank you for helping make our community a better place to live and work.  If you gave in your campaign at work for United Way, thank you for caring and sharing to help change the lives of those who pass by you every day. The change we strive to create at Metro United Way doesn’t happen without you. Don’t just take my word for it….take a quick look at our recent field trip. It was a LIVE UNITED thank you tour. Check it out and you will see how we surprised a few loyal donors while they were working. I think you can imagine their surprise and you can also see the strong feelings created with an in-person and heartfelt thank you.

Advocacy, Events, General, Giving, Volunteering Charlie Strong, Common good, community change, Football, Live United, Louisville, NFL, passion, thank you, United Way

The Marketing Department is hard at work creating fundraising materials for our upcoming campaign. Part of my job as the Marketing & Communications Coordinator is gathering stories of people who have been touched by Metro United Way agencies and initiatives.  Here at Metro United Way, we call them “success stories,” and every time I have the privilege of hearing a success story, I am astounded and amazed.

There are so many stories, in every shape and size, that tell of tragedy to triumph. While everyone has their own unique story, I am beginning to see a theme emerge - the majority of people I have spoken with expressed that they “never thought it would happen to me.” Story after story, I heard people say that they donated to Metro United Way, or volunteered for Metro United Way, but never thought that they would need Metro United Way.

Did you know that two out of every three people in our community will use a Metro United Way-funded service in our lifetime? I have two sisters, so between the three of us, one will probably need assistance from Metro United Way at some point. When I fill out my pledge card, I think of each of them - and want Metro United Way services to be here in her time of need. I want to make sure that she is a success story.

I also fill out my pledge card in honor of you - should you ever need Metro United Way-funded services, I want you to be a success story too! Do you already have a success story to share? I’d love to talk to you-call 583-2821 and ask for Kate. I look forward to hearing from you!

P.S-I cannot wait to share our success stories with you-they are incredible! Sign up to receive our monthly e-newsletter, LIVE UNITED Online, to be the among the first to read them!

General Common good, Community, Live United, passion

Here at Metro United Way, we often ask the question, “What are you passionate about?”  We ask the question of potential volunteers when we’re trying to figure out what volunteer opportunities they might most enjoy doing.  We ask it of donors so we can help them connect their philanthropy to the causes they believe in most deeply.  We ask it of companies so we can determine how Metro United Way can help that business express its social conscience and become a better corporate citizen of our community.

But what is passion, anyway?  Webster’s Online Dictionary defines it as: 1) strong feeling or emotion, 2) something that is desired intensely, 3) any object of warm affection or devotion.

So, the question is, what causes or issues do you feel most strongly about?  To what do you devote your time, energy, talents, and resources? Of what greater good do you want to be a part?   Whatever it is, find a way to become an advocate for that cause and use your passion to benefit others. 

For example, I have a friend who has a heart for older adults who live alone.  She devotes a portion of her time to cleaning the homes of these people, which meets their need for a healthier living space, provides them with socialization once a week, and gives them the comfort of knowing that someone is checking on them regularly.  I have another friend who is passionate about the restoration and preservation of historic homes.  He spends a portion of his time helping his neighbors with home repair and restoration projects, is in the process of restoring his own Victorian-era house, and opens his home for the holiday house walk to raise money for and awareness of his city’s historic preservation efforts.   Another friend cares deeply about the soldiers that serve our country overseas.  Each week, she writes notes of encouragement and appreciation to U.S. service men & women, makes fleece blankets to send to them, and advocates for veterans.

So how about you?  Whether it’s animals, the arts, the protection of the weak, cooking, knitting, civil rights, antique cars, sports, or gardening, there’s a way that you can use your passion to educate, uplift, encourage, and challenge others.  I challenge you to find a way to do just that.

General advocate, Community, Giving, passion, service, Volunteering

By Howard Mason

Individual passion

I believe all of us care about living in a vital, caring community. But we each care in our own ways and we each have our individual passions. We need all of that passion and we don’t expect that any one’s passion is exactly the same as anyone else’s. Our job is to find ways for each of us to express our passions in ways that advance the common good.

Commitment to personal action

As important as passion is, without a commitment to action, passion doesn’t take us anywhere. The commitment to action we are talking about is a personal commitment.

How can you, how can I, how can anyone find a way to move our passion to action? Again, each of us will be different, but I believe each of us—if we think personal, rather than organizational—can find a way to act on our passions.

Some of us know what actions our passion points us toward. Others of us are only beginning to discover this or ask the question. Some of our commitments will take the form of leadership or starting something new; others will find existing efforts to join or support. Our actions are an expression of who we are or want to be. The invitation to action is an opportunity to express our best selves.

Collective will

If our passion is individual and our commitment to action is personal, our will to see our vision realized must be collective. The lives of children, families, seniors, and people with disabilities can change very much for the better. But the change will only come if there is strong enough collective will to make those changes simply unavoidable and inevitable.

When we have made sweeping changes in this country in the past, those changes have been swept into being by a prairie fire of grassroots support. Let’s not waste our energy talking at length how to plan one big bonfire that we hope will catch the prairie on fire. We each must become a spark that can burst into hundreds, thousands of individual flames of the prairie fire.

Doing new things in new ways to get new results

Let’s face it: if doing the same things we have always done in the same ways were all we needed to make our visions reality, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion. We might already live in the most vital caring community in America.

So let us also face the fact that we are going to have to try new things, go about our efforts in new ways, if we are going to get the new results we seek. Our discussions will need to help us look at new ways of doing things, since we are talking today about what each individual can do. Our conversation today is not about if only somebody else were involved or what some other group needs to do. Today it is about what each of us can do.

Where do we start?

We are here to change the world. Where do we start?

Here is a story about someone who set out to change the world. She found that she wasn’t making much progress, so she tried to change her country. This was also too difficult, so she tried to change her neighborhood. When she didn’t have success there, she tried to change her family. Even that was easier said then done, so she tried to change herself. Then an interesting thing happened. When she had changed herself, her family changed. When her family changed, her neighborhood changed. When her neighborhood changed, her country changed. And when her country changed, the world changed.

Change always starts within us—in our hearts—then in our organizations and communities. Gandhi said we must be the change we wish to see in the world.

So now we know where to start.

Let’s get going.

Advocacy, Education, General, Health, Income, Volunteering Change the World, Community, community change, passion, responsibility, vital caring community