Dear Lowndes County Residents,

Through my years as a volunteer with United Way of Lowndes County, I’ve learned how significant its purpose is to Columbus and Lowndes County. Our mission is to make it possible for contributors to serve others by supporting compassionate and professionally staffed organizations whose efforts touch thousands of lives each year, right here at home.

United Way contributors understand the importance and scope of work carried out by local United Way funded agencies. But we also know it takes funding resources for this to happen. Agencies have shown us that other financial support such as grants, government funds and individual contributions are becoming fewer and smaller due to the recession, and that United Way contributions are increasingly more vital to their missions of service.

Here are just a few ways United Way contributions support our community:

• Services for our elderly and disabled, including transportation to medical treatments like chemotherapy and dialysis and to jobs, and daily reassurance phone calls to check on the health and wellbeing of our elders.
• Aid for hard-working and self-sufficient families and individuals that have verifiable financial emergencies caused by a catastrophic illness, layoff, or other major adversity beyond their control. Others beneficiaries are elderly or disabled, living on very fixed incomes, and if not for the generosity of United Way donors, would have to choose between food and prescription medications some months.
• Local disaster relief organizations that respond when it is our community affected by major severe weather events. United Way has provided $150,000 in supplemental funds to local disaster agencies and coordinated volunteer efforts and collection and distribution sites following tornados, straight-line winds and Hurricane Katrina.
• GED test preparation for displaced workers so they can increase their employability or move on to training programs or higher education to regain their self-sufficiency.
• Youth organizations and after-school programs for children and teens.
  
  

Each contributor is an important and valued part of the role United Way of Lowndes County plays in our community. They help ensure these programs will have the means to carry out their missions of service in the coming year. To learn more about your United Way, or if you need information about conducting a workplace campaign, give us a call at 328-0943. More information, including our video of local service recipients and outreach initiatives, may be found at www.unitedwaylowndescounty.org.

Sincerely,

Stewart Stafford, Chair
2011 United Way Campaign