Live United Days

Our Live United Days are really catching on during this year’s Pacesetter Campaign, and we couldn’t be happier for the positive response and comments we’ve gotten from the community (and the great press doesn’t hurt either!).  Centene Corporation held their Live United Day yesterday, and from the sounds of it have a lot of exciting things planned for their employees.

Its never too early to teach them to Advocate! Thanks Centene for letting us decorate your sidewalk!

Suicide and Voices of Hope

Today’s Great Falls Tribune features a heartfelt story by Kristen Cates highlighting the loss felt by suicide.  The three family survivors’ stories are profoundly touching, as are the quotes from Voices of Hope’s  Angela Hansen.

Suicide rates continue to be exceptionally high in Montana, and this is one of the things our Allocations Committee toys with every year.  How do we know if United Way dollars are making a positive impact within this organization if Montana continues to have the 1st, 2nd or 3rd highest suicide rates in the nation?  Kristen’s article hints that, due to the ambiguity of mental illnesses, its hard to say.  What is easy to see is the breadth of people that Voices of Hope touches in their daily interactions.

Please weigh in on this topic–it always seems to spark some lively discussions with both our Board of Directors and Allocations Committee!

Support 2-1-1

From UWA’s VP for Public Policy, 

As many of you know, United Way of America has dramatically ramped up its efforts on moving the Calling for 2-1-1 Act in Congress.  Many United Ways and 2-1-1s have been contributing to this effort and the results are apparent.  (We have 48 cosponsors in the Senate and 139 in the House).  This is not something we can effectively do by ourselves.  Senators and Member of Congress want to hear from their constituents regarding the importance of 2-1-1 in their states and districts.  We are pulling out all the stops and the entire UWA public policy staff is working on this nearly full-time.  Brian Gallagher is in contact with key Senators and Members of Congress, we have asked our Board Members for help, and we are asking our national partners for assistance.  But it is the grassroots effort from you all that will make or break this current push.  Thanks for everything everyone has done so far; we have to ask for more.

Our current goal is to get S.211 voted on by the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee before the August recess.  This is the key step in the legislative process.  The Committee’s last opportunity to consider the bill before the recess will probably be two weeks from today, on Wednesday, August 5.  We are targeting all Members of the Senate HELP Committee. 

NOTE:  This e-mail is for everyone who works for or supports United Way.  If ¼ of the 9000+ people who work for United Way call Congress, we will have a HUGE impact on Capitol Hill this week.  Please be in that 25% and find the time to make this call today.  Please forward this message!  PLEASE take two minutes to make a call to your senators!  We need call volume right now!  Ask everyone in your United Way to make this call. 

Its noteworthy that neither of our MT senators are currently supporting the 2-1-1 bill, so maybe that means they just need to hear from supporters of our invaluable Montana 2-1-1 service.  Senator Baucus’ office in DC is (202) 224-2651 and Senator Tester’s office line is (202) 224-2644.