I’m often asked: ‘Why should I support United Way of Santa Rosa County?’ Great question. It’s hard to support something that may not be fully understood or viewed as relevant.
It may sound cliché, but life goes in cycles. What goes up, must come down; the sun rises and sets; tides come in and go out; over the years, recessions have a beginning and eventually an ending; storms come and go. Sometimes people find themselves caught in the tides of life when they are totally unprepared to ride out these proverbial storms. At times, life’s situations can compound and become quite overwhelming.
Many who are facing hard times are out of options. They experience initial shock, denial, embarrassment and isolation. During these times, it’s difficult to figure a way out or know where to turn. Sometimes good intentions turn into poor decisions that can make situations even worse.
Why support UWSR? Because: not one of us is immune from disaster, emergencies, poverty or illness. This organization touches one in four people; the reason it exists is to help provide you, your family, friends, neighbors and coworkers with information, options and direction to solutions.
Constantly seeking solutions to important issues in Santa Rosa, we focus on health, education and income stability. Our job is to analyze the needs of our county, review the available agencies offering services, and engage in campaign activities to help fund agencies, scholarships and programs.
Because of generous community contributions received in 2016, funding was allocated to 14 agencies from UWSR. In turn, these agencies use the funds to help Santa Rosa with rent, utility bills and other types of assistance.
For example, funding helps Feeding the Gulf Coast purchase 5 to 7 meals for every dollar it receives from us; Santa Rosa Kids’ House uses donated funds to help pay $125 an hour for child abuse survivors’ therapy sessions.
Funding from UWSR qualifies agencies to apply for matching grants from corporations, foundations, state and federal sources. It’s important to mention that contributions directly donated to agencies from individuals do not qualify for matching grants. Funds contributed to UWSR by individuals who designate to a 501c3 agency of their choice can count toward qualifying agencies to receive grant awards.
In 2015, the Early Learning Coalition of Santa Rosa County received an additional $150,000 in matched grants by leveraging the $9,000 in funding it received from UWSR.
UWSR’s First Call for Help hotline connects Santa Rosa to opportunities for housing, food, medical and utility assistance, disaster recovery, employment, clothing and other necessities of life. Instead of paying huge call-center fees, we operate this call center on a shoestring. To make contributions go further, staff and volunteers answer phone calls as part of our workload. The only cost is two local telephone lines.
Additionally, helping to fill gaps, UWSR works on solutions for homelessness and ex-offender society reentry issues; collects, assembles, and provides school supply backpacks for students in need and supplements teachers with classroom supplies; funds scholarships and a teacher grant; contributes funds towards weekend meals for homeless students; provides annual home improvements to a family in need; offers free meeting space to community partners; facilitates volunteer opportunities; and applies for grants to bring additional service funding into Santa Rosa.
There’s a direct relationship between the funds we raise for UWSR and available community services. The more we raise, the more we can accomplish for Santa Rosa.
Call Debra Baez at 623-4507 with inquiries or to arrange a workplace campaign for any number of employees, donate or volunteer.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Measuring United Way of Santa Rosa's impact