Week 4 takes me back to the East Coast and closer to home with United Way of Southeastern Connecticut. This is likely the largest charitable organization I will be donating to this year. Every fall, my company launches a global United Way campaign to raise funds for the following year. In the fall 2010 campaign employees donated just over $1 million and with the company match sent $2.1 million out into our local community to help those in need. Then came the 2011 campaign and a drastic reduction in donations. We're talking a 78% reduction! This was attributed to many things including poor company moral after a round of severe lay-offs, as well as a generally faltering economy.
The United Way provides vital services to those in need in our local community. They do everything from bringing hot meals to the elderly, providing dental care, assisting local non-profit aid organizations, and helping during times of national disaster and crisis. Personally, I am most impressed with the United Way programs that help to strengthen families in our community. In these times, protecting the family unit is critical. I believe the more support we give to fledgling families to keep them together and keep them happy, the better our communities will become.
As an employee of a company who has laid off thousands of workers, I have personally known families struggling to make ends meets after losing a job. So it is reassuring to know that our community has strong United Way support should we ever need it.
More information about United Way can be found at www.liveunited.org
My week 4 donation will be 100% matched by my company.
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