Executive Director's Letter
The word that best describes the United Way of Greater Lorain County? How about "caring"? Caring is the word most often heard from volunteers. Heard in fact from anyone who witnesses first hand the work of your United Way.
Calling it "yours" is no exaggeration. Last year alone, 80,000+ residents, who came from every Lorain County community, accessed local services.
It is "yours" for another reason: Lorain County residents are integrally involved in every facet of United Way, making it truly a community based and volunteer driven caring operation. Volunteers from every community and every walk of life organize our fund raising campaign. They conduct employee drives, sponsor special events and conduct Day of Caring projects. They scrutinize requests for funds made by non-profit agencies, determine which programs get funding and monitor the outcomes achieved by programs which receive funds. This assures that the caring gets to those most in need .
There is even a more fundamental community involvement. Every two to three years an extensive countywide survey is conducted to assess the county's human service needs so as to determine which needs should receive contributed funds. That way resources can be focused on the most critical human service issues and have their greatest impact on the people who need it the most. Currently, Lorain County has an abundance of those. They are people who come from every neighborhood, age group and background.
Sometimes a person's needs are basic as in needing a meal for themselves or their family. Other times critical, as is the case when a safe shelter away from an abusive spouse is necessary.
Then there are the more complex needs: a physically or psychologically impaired older adult requiring assistance to cope with life changes or increased physical limitations. Or the need might be the unemployed, at-the-end-of-their-ropes individual trying to cope with the prospect of a home foreclosure. Or the teen who is discovering how drug abuse has turned their life into a nightmare.
Adding to this is a list of daunting challenges facing youth which are best addressed by strong prevention and education programs. Programs that aim at promoting positive beginnings such as quality childcare, mentoring, healthy parenting behavior and which can be seen in detail on our www.LorainCountyUnitedWay.org website.
They are programs that are available only because caring people contribute to United Way.
There's that word "caring" again!
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