Executive Director's Message

LIVE UNITED™ - Inform

6/1/2008

ASK. THANK. INFORM. In last month’s piece, we explained that these three values underlie the United Way of Meriden and Wallingford’s new LIVE UNITED™ initiative. We have spent the last ten months “asking” and “thanking” and now it is time to “inform.”

In this newspaper last week, you may have read an article about our Annual Report for 2007 which was just released. Instead of giving the reader a laundry list of donors and income or volunteers and projects, the reporter chose to write about what happened with the money and hours donated in our last fiscal year. We feel that telling you, our donors and donors-to-be, about how your time and dollars change this community is the real basis and reason for the key value INFORM. That article talked about the seed funding of a telehealth program that, when implemented, will bring home-based electronic monitoring to patients with some chronic conditions and help them to stay at home and still be under the watchful eye of a trained professional. It will not only provide piece of mind to the patient and family but also may help forestall returns to the hospital. It is an innovative and ambitious program but one that our community deserves and we are proud to be helping to realize.

The article also talked about the difficult economy we now face and how that will change our needs and investments in the community. Although it is unpleasant news, that also is a part of INFORM. You do not need us to tell you of the cost of gasoline and the price of a box of cereal. You do need us, though, to remind you that the programs you care about are faced with those same issues and, yet, have limited ways to respond. Remember that the agency that transports our elders to doctors’ appointments does so paying the same high fuel costs that we pay. The factors that can change or limit a program as well as the trends we are seeing here at United Way are part of our business and we need to inform you about how we will respond to and accommodate those new demands.

That brings us to our next piece that you will see in this paper this week. We recently completed the allocation process to fund programs in Meriden and Wallingford. We are proud to say that even in a tight economy, our allocators and Board of Directors felt that we should work hard to ensure that we put at least the same resources back into the community as we did last year. While that is a challenge we accept, we do still feel that INFORM also requires us to share with you how much and which programs will be funded in the coming year. Just as important is the need to point out to you some of the trends we are seeing and how they are reflected in the funding for the next program year. If you compare the figures in this new year to our Annual Report for 2007, you will see that funding for Youth Development and Recreational Services for Adults has increased as has funding for Early Learning. These trends match what our donors told us they were concerned about and wanted funded. They are not surprising since they also reflect the kinds of programs our agencies put forward for funding consideration. We remain a community that cares about the quality of the lives of all of our citizens.

The overall allocations you see in that piece reflect the idea that when we reach out to help one other person in our community, everyone else is better for it. That’s what it means to LIVE UNITED™ .

Be a part of our “Ask. Thank. Inform” process. Call us at 203-235-4403.

5/1/2008
LIVE UNITED™ - Ask. Thank. Inform
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7/1/2008
LIVE UNITED™ - Local Models
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