United Way Needs Your Help!

For many people in our community, making ends meet is simply wishful thinking.

There are many families in our neighborhoods - families who you may know well and not even realize are struggling - whose bread-winners work full-time, only to leave at the end of the day and head over to our local food banks... or may work full-time and frequent homeless shelters as a place to rest for the night... or have to make a choice between paying bills and putting food on their family's table.

The staff and volunteers at United Way are headed for a tough campaign this fall, hoping for the best for thousands of Lehigh Valley residents most in need. We know, through the generosity of people like you, we can continue to meet the needs of our children and families throughout the Lehigh Valley. However, we are learning every day that the needs are drastically increasing.

Consider these statistics over the last 12 months:

• Since 2007, requests for housing assistance through Valley Wide Help have increased a whopping 30% (almost 500 more calls!);
• Energy assistance calls have increased 64%;
• Food assistance calls have increased by 11%;
• Transportation assistance calls have increased over 33%;
• Financial assistance calls have increased by 17%.

Your support of United Way this year is critical to making sure programs are available for local families when they need it most. Through an Emerging Leader membership gift of $250 to the United Way's Women's Leadership Initiative, you help play a role in the health and vitality of our community... a health and vitality that is at risk for many of our neighbors, friends, and relatives.

United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley officially kicks-off its 2008 campaign tomorrow, September 11th, with its annual Day of Caring event - the Lehigh Valley’s annual event that raises awareness of our community’s needs. Because volunteers work on various activities for local nonprofit agencies that would otherwise need to be paid for, over 1,000 volunteers saved these agencies over $80,000 last year!

It's easy to make a contribution through your organization's fall United Way Campaign. If your company does not currently run a campaign, please let us know who we should talk to to get a campaign started!

For more information on how you can help or get involved, questions or concerns, please email sarahb@unitedwayglv.org.