It’s looking good. Although we have not completely wrapped up our annual effort, we are confident we will reach, and quite possibly exceed, our $2.5 million dollar target. To date, $2.3 million dollars is in house with some of our major firms still wrapping up their workplace campaigns. We are so thankful to the thousands of individuals and the 200+ local businesses that participated in our 2014 campaign and we wanted to take this opportunity to thank this generous community for your support.
It was a cold November afternoon. No, I was not at a Packer game. I was standing outside watching a volunteer fire department attempt to put out a fire. The water holding tanks were starting to freeze, the fire fighters were struggling to stay warm while they cut through the slate roof with saws. Smoke was billowing out of the house and flames could be seen through the second floor windows. When the fire was finally out, we no longer had a roof over our heads. Nor did the six teenage boys, ages 12 – 17 years, living with us at the residential treatment center. For the next few weeks, we all double bunked at another home administered by the residential treatment center that employed us as house parents. Four adults, 14 teenage boys, one 2-year old and two dogs shared a five bedroom, 2 bath home. As we worked to ensure the boys would be either moved back home or to other residential treatment programs, it dawned on my husband and I that soon we would be both homeless and unemployed. Fortunately this unexpected event, the house fire, led us back to Sheboygan – our home town.
Last week, our column talked about transition: the transition from the traditional United Way model (raising as much money as possible and distributing it to affiliate agency programs doing good things in the community) to the Impact Investment Model, focusing on a small number of specific issues and fixing them.
United Ways around the country and, indeed, the world have been in various states of transition for more than a decade. Sheboygan County’s is no different. In the grand scheme of things there are two distinct models of operation: Traditional Agency Funding and Impact Investment Funding and a full spectrum of variations in-between.
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.
Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy New Year! Happy Holidays! Whatever your holiday greeting, for many, this time of year inspires many with feelings of generosity and warm wishes. For most charitable organizations, 25-50% of contributions are made between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, and volunteerism is prevalent this time of year. Surely most of you have seen at least one volunteer bell ringer helping with the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign this season.
Let me interrupt our regularly-scheduled United Way programming to write about a wonderful community organization helping those in need in our community: the Sheboygan County Rotary’s Clubs Making Spirits Bright. In this season of overspending, I encourage you and your families to drive through the FREE holiday light show in Sheboygan’s Evergreen Park and bring a donation of non-perishable food items to support those in need.
Wiki what? As I was thinking about my topic for the column this week and throwing around different ideas, I began doing a bit of online research pertaining to the correlation between volunteering and happiness. Who knew that volunteering is part of wikiHow’s prescription for fighting depression and loneliness. In fact, it’s method number two, point two, of three methods.
In 2013, Americans spent $2.375 billion on food for Thanksgiving dinner. They spent $12.3 billion on Black Friday in stores and another $2.29 billion on Cyber Monday. And these same Americans gave $19.2 in online donations on #GivingTuesday.
I have been hungry, but have never experienced hunger. When I am hungry, my stomach growls and I get something to eat. But when a child or adult experiences hunger, they are not always able to get enough food to provide necessary nutrients for a full productive and active life. In fact, extreme hunger may result in illness or death.