This has been The Year of Disasters. The Asian tsunami was the horrific start of it all on Dec. 26, 2004. At the end of August, Hurricane Katrina put an early exclamation point on this year’s wild tropical storm season, and the tragic earthquakes in Pakistan and India have piled on more human misery.

Here, and around the country, Americans have opened their hearts and their wallets in response to these disasters, especially Hurricane Katrina. A recent article by the Business Journal’s Dennis Quick highlighted the many efforts of individual businesses in the region as part of our community’s response.

Along with those individual efforts, Trident United Way played a vital role in coordinating and supporting our community’s expression of compassion and concern for Katrina’s victims.

At a recent United Way board meeting, Charlotte Anderson, vice president—211 Services, described a host of activities, in addition to the more than $50,000 in cash donated by Trident United Way for hurricane relief.

Trident United Way:

• Played a leadership role in coordinating the area’s response to Katrina.

• Set up and staffed a local FEMA registration site.

• Set up the Trident United Way Web site to help match donated goods and services with evacuee’s needs and provided directed support to evacuees in local service centers.

• Played a lead role in coordinating access to area housing.

• On Nov. 4, will host a “Community Critique and Planning Meeting” to assess the community’s response and apply lessons learned to improve local disaster planning and day-to-day assistance for those in need.

The downside of United Way’s extraordinary hurricane relief efforts was that they fell right in the middle of the annual fall fundraising campaign, throwing the campaign behind schedule by two and half weeks.

As of today, with little more than three weeks remaining before Thanksgiving, there is a critical need for area businesses to step up their efforts and complete their United Way employee campaigns before the holiday season begins.

There’s been some concern in the media about “donor fatigue” due to the outpouring of personal giving this year for disaster relief, but the good news is that most companies offer payroll deduction as an easy way to spread employees’ Trident United Way donations over a full year, and deductions for pledges made this fall won’t start until January 2006.

Trident United Way deserves our support

As a member of Trident United Way’s board, I have been privileged to watch this vital community organization at work in our area.

Here are some of the key reasons United Way deserves our support:

Careful stewardship of our donations. Trident United Way has a disciplined process to ensure that contributions are made to area nonprofits that deliver good value to the community. Dozens of volunteers work in teams to evaluate all requests for support and also give feedback to nonprofit agencies to help them improve their services.

A “big picture” focus on community needs. United Way vision councils, staffed by volunteers from the area’s business and civic leadership, work throughout the year to ensure that Trident United Way’s support of area nonprofits is focused on “big picture” needs that will have a broad community impact. Areas of focus include “Success by 6,” “Nurturing Youth,” “Promoting Health & Wellness,” “Increasing Self Sufficiency” and “Supporting Older People.” Nearly 100 local agencies receive funding because their programs support the broad areas of concern identified by United Way’s vision councils.

Direct services to the community. Trident United Way’s traditional role of raising funds to distribute to area nonprofit agencies continues as a vital mission, but many people don’t realize how much United Way means to our community in terms of direct services, including:

• 211 Hotline. Area residents can dial 211 to find out where to get help in the community if they are in need, or where to give help if they want to volunteer to help others (Cell phone users must dial 744-HELP). As the 211 Hotline and its resource database have grown, this service is also evolving into an “asset mapping” tool to help area governments, businesses and nonprofits understand how needs and resources are distributed around the tri-county region.

• “One-stop” service centers. Trident United Way has set up walk-in service centers in Berkeley and Dorchester counties to help coordinate services there. People in need can come to these centers to obtain personal assistance and counseling. When people have financial or health or family problems, they often find that their troubles multiply and they need different kinds of help from different government or nonprofit agencies. Trident United Way staffers help people sort through their needs and find the right resources.

Time to ‘step on the gas’

If your company or organization is participating in this year’s Trident United Way campaign, now is the time to “step on the gas” and make sure your campaign is a success. The payback to our community for your efforts is great, as is the need.

For more information, or to ask how you can individually donate to Trident United Way, call 740-9000 or visit their Web site at www.tuw.org.

View as PDF

SUBSCRIBE | REPRINTS | CONTACT US

Phone: 843-849-3100    Fax: 843-849-3122