Many happy returns!  This traditional greeting for the New Year wishes everyone happiness and prosperity for many years to come.  As we begin another new year, all of us at United Way of Sheboygan County hope that our community will continue to prosper and that all of its citizens may be fed, educated and healthy.

Unfortunately, we know that this wish will not be fully realized.  Some Sheboygan County residents will be hungry this year.  Others will suffer the challenges of insufficient school readiness, and some will face mental health crises.  Sadly, some will face all of these misfortunes.   But as compassionate and optimistic neighbors, we and all of the county will do our best to help the unfortunate weather the storm and rebuild their lives.

At United Way, we will do our part by continuing to support the good work that our 22 partner agencies do every year.  We plan to do more than simply help people get through their crises, though.  We are working toward bringing those agencies together to make long-lasting change in the areas of early learning, food for all and mental health awareness.

In 2014, we heard support for this approach, from the community.  We participated in two community assessments and one community conversation about how to prevent future problems, not just react to the latest challenge.  We will continue working toward this goal in 2015 and beyond.

There is sound financial reasoning behind this approach.  A dollar invested in prevention has been proven to result in $6 to $8 of future savings on remedial social programs and solutions.  This return on investment would be envied in any financial trading house in the land.  Why should we settle for less than the most we can do, in the social sector?

Imagine that you were standing on a riverbank fishing, and you see a person floating by, calling for help – you would do all you could to save that person from drowning, right?  But what if, as soon as that person was saved, you saw another person out there struggling – and another, and another?  And what if you learned that all of these people were falling from a bridge upstream, because of a faulty walkway and a broken handrail?  Would you keep jumping in to save them until you exhausted yourself and were in danger of drowning, too?  Or would realize that, at some point, someone must fix the broken bridge that they are falling off?

We recognize that there will always be people in crisis situations.  We cannot possibly raise enough funds to provide beds and food for all of those in crisis.  We need to begin to make an investment in prevention, to lessen the number of crises to the extent possible.  Otherwise, we will continually be chasing a goal that retreats farther from us, as the problems causing the crises spiral out of control.

We wish all of you a Happy New Year, and look forward to working with the community to build a bright future for all Sheboygan County residents, through prevention programming.