United Way of Dane County kicked off its community campaign at Breese Stevens Field with its United Carnival on Wednesday.
United Way held a carnival to kick off its newest community campaign. The carnival saw 550 attendees who had the opportunity to engage in family-friendly fun, volunteer and hear about rising community needs United Way aims to address in the campaign. The goal for the campaign is to raise $17.3 million, but United Way wanted to hear what the community wanted to see from its efforts.
The slogan for the community campaign is, “Be one of the ones.” Renee Moe, CEO of United Way of Dane County, wants to move the conversation on community giving back to be centered on how people can really make a difference.
“Be one of the ones to care. Be one of the ones to step up if you’re feeling isolated or if you’re feeling like you’re not being heard,” Moe said. “Let us help connect the dots, get people proximate to your story and to ways that we can make a difference. That’s the call to action.”
United Way saw an uptick in request for services from its “211” call service line due to rising costs of inflation. Around 44,000 callers requested help with food, rent and childcare. It said that it found an 80% increase this year for rent and housing, food and utilities assistance. Just last month, United Way also saw more requests for gas vouchers and transportation.
With the funding goal of $17.3 million, United Way looks to use the money to bolster efforts with nonprofits that meet the needs for issues that it found. Plans are centered on how to meet issues that arise with a heightened focus on job training, child care, tutoring and homelessness. United Way’s core target is asset-limited, income-constrained and employed families.
“I think a lot of people don’t really get United Way. A lot of people know the brand, but they don’t necessarily know what we do,” Moe said. “And I think a lot of people feel like, ‘Oh, you’re fundraisers, and you support a lot of nonprofits.’ But they don’t necessarily see how we actually mobilize more people to get involved in their community, whether it’s getting advocating or volunteering, and then how we deploy the money.”
Part of the kickoff saw a drive to package paper products to donate — an effort Moe notes is an unrealized need. Volunteers packed 3,000 packages to be distributed to its nonprofit partners at Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin, Porchlight, Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin and WayForward Resources.
Attendees were also able to leave feedback on what personal and professional development topics they want Women United. The branch, part of United Way that helps women and children reach their potential, proposed topics on life hacks, financial wellness, career growth and miscellaneous.
“It was one of the questions that I had when I first became CEO. We’re doing these projects, are they are actually making a difference,” Moe said. “If we can hear directly from families, to 211, directly from nonprofits who let us know what they need they might say, ‘Hey, we need more paper products.’”
Topics requested range from navigating auto purchases and repairs, buying housing, investing and saving, how to network, salary negotiations, leadership, how to make an impact in male-dominated industries and work/life balance.
