Too important to ignore: Change lives through United Way
By Dick Wilkerson
Originally published 09/26/2010 in The Greenville News (subscription required)
By now, you may have seen a news story or driven past one of the banners around town announcing the beginning of United Way of Greenville County’s annual campaign and the goal of $14.6 million we’ve set for the community.
While it would be easy to turn the page, change the channel or drive right by without a second thought, this year’s campaign is just too important to ignore.
Our Campaign Cabinet, a group of volunteer leaders united by a shared passion for this community, put a lot of careful thought into establishing our goal for the 2010 campaign. Many factors played into the decision, the most important of which is the question of what we need to do to best meet the needs of Greenville County.
The answer to that was obvious.
Two years of harsh economic conditions have created tough times for many. We see record need out there, so it’s up to us as a caring, generous community to band together and lend a hand with what would be a record campaign.
Just last week, the U.S. Census announced the nation's official poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent, up from 13.2 percent in 2008, the highest level its been since 1994. The most recent figures provided for Greenville County (2008) say 13.8 percent, or more than 60,000 of our neighbors, live below the federal poverty line.
Unfortunately, poverty is just one of the challenges we face as a community. Many out there are struggling with issues of education, unemployment and health, and it’s up to us to do what we can to alleviate some of the burden and improve the quality of life for all in Greenville County.
United Way of Greenville County’s annual campaign affords us an easy and effective means to make a huge impact now and in the future.
Right now, United Way is investing donor contributions in 86 local programs working to nurture children, help and encourage youth success, strengthen families and neighborhoods, improve our community’s health, and assist people in times of crisis.
The combined support of folks in our community enables these programs and agencies to do tremendous work every day. Because of their generosity, an abused child is getting therapy at A Child’s Haven; a teenager is receiving guidance from the Urban League about preparing for college; a mother is getting childcare assistance so she can go to school at Greenville Tech; an unemployed father is training for a new career with help from United Ministries; a senior citizen is getting a long-delayed check-up at the Greenville Free Medical Clinic; and Greenville County is becoming a better place.
In addition to addressing the immediate, basic needs of individuals and families, United Way is taking a big-picture approach to the issues our community has identified as essential to creating long-term cycles of success: ensuring our young children enter school on track to succeed, our youth graduate from high school, and individuals and families are financially stable enough to weather a personal crisis, save for college, or buy a home.
United Way is building initiatives and mobilizing partners and resources to tackle these difficult issues. There is still much work to be done on all three fronts, but we’re seeing definite progress through the new endowed childcare scholarship program for low-income families, Graduate Greenville, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and the Foreclosure Prevention Task Force.
These programs would not exist and could not move forward without the generosity of the thousands of working people and their companies who LIVE UNITED each year by contributing to the United Way campaign.
Las tweek at our annual kickoff event, we announced that employees at 23 local companies – our Pacesetters – have already pledged nearly $3.4 million toward this year’s effort. We are grateful to all for their generosity and leadership. The Pacesetters have us off to an excellent start, providing the momentum we need as we embark on this 10-week campaign toward $14.6 million.
Now, we need you to keep us moving forward.
If your company is not one of the 700 workplaces running a campaign, call United Way and we’ll help you organize one. If you would like to give individually, you can do that online at unitedwaygc.org.
If you’ve never given before, join us this year. The needs are great. Every contribution, regardless of the amount, can change our community for the better.
If you are a loyal, faithful contributor, make sure your friends, colleagues and neighbors know why you support United Way of Greenville County. All the billboards and banners in the world don’t compare to word-of-mouth from a trusted source like you.
With the combined energy, commitment and goodwill of our community, I know we can meet our goal and earn a victory for Greenville County.
Good luck to all of our campaigns and thank you for your support.
Dick Wilkerson is United Way of Greenville County’s 2010 Campaign Chair. He is the Chairman and President of Michelin North America. The United Way campaign ends Oct. 29. The results will be announced Nov. 9. To learn more about how you or your company can participate, please call 864-467-3537.
