United Way calls for help
To the Editor: Not only does fall bring the beginning of school, football and hurricane season, it brings the start of the Orange County United Way Campaign. As a caring community, we have all been touched by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and now Wilma, and send our heartfelt compassion to all involved. We have been actively participating in supporting immediate relief and long-term recovery efforts. While our concerns and generosity extend to our neighbors in the South, we must remember our neighbors’ right here. As charitable givers, it is extremely important to understand that it is our very donations from prior United Way campaigns that make it possible for our service-providing agencies to respond when called upon - whether it be due to a natural disaster or the more silent crises that affect families in our region every day. Our partner agencies are organizations whose programs directly serve our home community. As the United Way, we support them fiscally and otherwise. As this year’s campaign moves along, we invite you to consider the following: Giving to the Community Care Fund through your United Way contribution provides the best means of support for the funded programs at our local partner agencies. In 2005, we received requests from our 33 partner agencies to fund over 55 programs totaling nearly $1,500,000. Our community volunteers who evaluated the program’s requests made extremely difficult decisions in attempting to address the widespread needs of our county. After completing the 2004/2005 campaign, we were able to provide approximately $800,000, just a portion of the requests. Through the Community Care Fund, the Orange County United Way targets your donor dollars to our county’s most needy: the hungry at a soup kitchen, services for the developmentally disabled, day care and after-school care for the children of working parents, hospital care for the terminally ill, and services for the frail and elderly with nowhere else to turn. Not satisfied to only assist our community through campaign efforts, earlier this year, the Orange County United Way helped direct flood relief fund donations to the residents of Port Jervis and the Town of Deer Park. Additionally, as was previously announced, Orange County United Way is playing a major role in the introduction of the 2-1-1 Hudson Valley Region Information and Referral System, providing Orange County residents greater access to important information on services that are available in times of need. As Orange County grows, so does the number of those in need. You can help support efforts to assist by contributing directly or through your workplace. Many employers around the county are conducting United Way campaigns. If yours doesn’t and you are interesting in starting one, or if you’d like to donate individually, please call 457-4774. We cannot overstate the call for your help. Please join us in supporting the many wonderful and worthwhile programs at our partner non-profit agencies supplying services for our community, friends and neighbors. Orange County has always been an incredibly generous community and together we can meet the critical needs of one another today and tomorrow. As our name implies, united we can do so much more than we could ever do alone. Robert E. Hatfield, Jr., chair, Orange County United Way’s 2005-2006 Campaign Jonnie Wesley-Krueger, chair, Orange County United Way board of directors