Living the United Way
Kyle Holley, United Way Santa Rosa
“Out of the least among us can come greatness.” This is a phrase I use often to guard against the pressures in life to accept any form of today’s selfishness, pride, or apathy. It’s a platform from which anybody who understands Santa Rosa County, really, can launch into the new day. It is easy to find reasons why things do not always work out as planned, or why, maybe we should pull back from some community initiatives and let others do the work for us. But, don’t do it! Today is the next day in the coming together of Santa Rosa County to ensure a brighter future for our residents and lead the expansion of the region’s community development. Any one of us at any time can pull our future toward our family best; through giving, advocating and volunteering.
This month, during open enrollment periods, Santa Rosa County residents across the region are showing their loyalty to their hometown and their companies through annual participation in the local United Way of Santa Rosa campaign. During the next few months many residents working in Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Escambia will rise to the occasion and designate their gifts through the annual payroll deduction campaign. Many in our area banks, schools, manufacturing, power generation, service and healthcare sectors will have the opportunity to send money back to Santa Rosa County residents through the United Way of Santa Rosa’s fundraising campaign. All participants in any United Way campaign absolutely have the choice to designate their weekly or bi-weekly gift to the United Way of their choice. The average payroll deduction gift to the United Way of Santa Rosa County is $3.50 per pay period. Together these designations add up to a total community impact of 6.24 times the amount given to area charities. On average, a gift to any United Way across the country, or within our region, is multiplied 4 times in its community impact.
Gifts to United Way are recognized by state and federal funding agencies as qualified local match funds. This means they can be used to meet state and federal guidelines required of your favorite service providing charity to pull into our community additional dollars to run their programs. Donors who choose to give through their local United Way campaign report satisfaction knowing at any given time United Way of Santa Rosa County can shift funding to a specific charity which may have a new funding opportunity; thereby maximizing the donors return on investment into their local community. It is the United Way of Santa Rosa County’s job to maximize the investment of outside state and federal dollars into our region through quality management and distribution to area charities. So you see, out of the least among us greatness will come. Please consider participating in the United Way of Santa Rosa County annual fundraising campaign if you haven’t already and remember you can designate your gift to the United Way of Santa Rosa County if you work outside the area. For more information or to schedule a United Way presentation for your workplace, contact Kyle Holley at 623-5694.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Out of the least of these