Temperature Goes Down – Needs Go Up

As fall transitions into winter, United Way braces for a spike in requests for assistance. The cold weather brings a lot more than just snow. This time of year, not only those who are less fortunate, but also everyday people begin to struggle paying their bills.

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Heating/Utility bills dramatically increase to combat the cold. In some cases it’s a catch-22 for people who are struggling. For example they can’t afford to pay additional bills but excessively dropping the temperature in a home to conserve can result in the freezing of pipes, which will only incur even more expenses. Combine this scenario with a Connecticut unemployment rate that is floating around 10 percent and you have yourself a serious problem. Often times people do not know where to turn, who to call or what to do.

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By dialing 2-1-1, a toll-free info line, callers can reach knowledgeable, multi-lingual staff with questions on health and human services information, specializes services in child care, child development and disabilities and HUSKY health insurance. All 2-1-1 services are confidential. Representatives are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition to being able to answer questions over the phone, 2-1-1 information is available online at www.211.org.

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2-1-1 handled 6,754 calls that produced 9,782 requests for services from Valley United Way towns of Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, Shelton and Oxford. Here is the report of all 2-1-1 service requests in 2009.

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Biggest service request increases:

Heat/Utilities +751

Public Assistance Programs +168

Food +104

Health Support Services +74

INTERESTING FACTS:

In the past 2.5 years since leaving the teaching profession, I've had the opportunity to interview many people as to their views on donating to different causes. To my surprise, the number one reason why the people I have interviewed do not donate is because they were never asked!!!! So I would like to take this opportunity in my blog to ASK for donations to the Valley United Way, which will be distributed among 24 health and human service agencies.

The second reason why people have not donated was because they felt that $1, $2 or even $5 per week (on payroll deduction) would not be enough money to make a difference! This was a shock to me and I would like to show you the great services these dollar amounts can provide for our community. Please read on:

$1 per week over a year ($52) can provide:
-one night in Spooner House (shelter, food & services)
-toothbrushes for all children at Derby Day Care to practice good health habits
-a box of crayons or markers for 25 children
-one hotel night for a disaster victim

$2 per week over a year ($104)can provide:
-4 counseling sessions for a victim of abuse
-a Therapeutic Horseback Riding Adventure for a day
-shoes and a change of clothing for the victim of a fire
-a one year membership to the Boys and Girls Club for a needy child

$5 per week over a year ($260) can provide:
-5 nights of food, shelter and services at Spooner House
-10 hours of community education dealing with such issues as body safety, bullying and sex assault
-‘Special Programs’ for children at daycare facilities
-26 days of lodging for a homeless person

$10 per week over a year ($520)can provide:
-school clothes for 5 children
-40 hours of childcare
-an abused child with three months of therapy
-a Big Brother, Big Sister match for a year

I hope my blog provides you with information about Valley United Way that you can share with others. For details on additional programs and services we provide, please visit our website at: www.valleyunitedway.org.

Nick T.’s Tri Challenge Update

Earlier this month we talked about Nick Tarasovic’s training for the Revolution3 Triathlon Race at Cedar Point, which will take place in Sandusky, Ohio on September 12, 2010. Nick will be raising money throughout his training that will exclusively benefit Valley United Way based on his accumulated miles, which will be posted on our website.

You can select to a variety of pledge levels. Here’s how it’s broken down:

Competitor - $0.01 per mile

Contender - $0.02 per mile

Elite - $0.03 per mile

Champion - $0.04 per mile

World Class - $0.05

Olympian - $0.06 and above per mile

Things to note about your donations:

All your funds go directly to Valley United Way.

All races expenses and fundraising costs are paid by Nick T.

Pay monthly or at race date 9/5/10.

You can designate what agency you want funds to go to.

Website will update weekly mile totals. Any miles over 6000 are optional for donor’s pledge.

Nick has logged in 553.5 miles so far and expects to log between 4,000 and 6,000 total miles by September 2010.

Commodore Hull Thanksgiving Day 5K Road Race - a new tradition

Several years ago after running in the Labor Day road race in New Haven, I ran across a Derby childhood neighbor, Glenn Gaetano, who also ran in the race and who had just moved back to the Valley. During the course of our conversation, the subject of a road race in the Valley came up, and we both thought it would be a great idea to think about a new event for the Valley.Several months later, we sat down along with Glenn's friend Tom Wilson of the Wilson Agency at his office in Shelton and did some brainstorming. Out of that meeting came the idea for a new community event to be held on Thanksgiving morning that would highlight the history of the Valley and celebrate the rebirth of the downtown areas of Shelton and Derby through a 5K road race which is now in its eighth year and is known as the Commodore Hull Thanksgiving Day 5K Road Race.

For those who don't know, Commodore Isaac Hull is one of the greatest naval heroes in U.S. history. He was in command of the U.S.S. Constitution during the War of 1812 when she earned the nickname "Old Ironsides" with a spectacular victory over the British ship, Guerriere. Since Hull was born in derby and lived in both Shelton and Derby, a race through the streets of his two native towns would be a perfect way to keep his name alive in our Valley. Of course the Rt. 8 bridge over the Housatonic River also bears his name, but this would be an interactive connection with this great hero.

What we wanted was not just a race, but a community event. Along the way, we hoped to raise some money for a worthwhile charity, and we chose the Boys & Girls Club for its close proximity to the starting line at the Farmers Market on Canal Street. Securing Grece & Haines as our major sponsor - and they still are today - guaranteed that the race would go on and be successful. We hoped to get about 150 runners and to get the race off in time for people to get to the morning high school football games. To our surprise we got over 300 runners in the first year, and a new tradition was born.

Now in its eighth year, the race has been a major success. In fact, it is a sell out! We have wonderful sponsors and volunteers (We can always use a few more - especially on race day!), but we have limited resources and have determined that our capacity to run a quality event is 625 runners. This year, we sold out all the spots by November 3. We would love to accommodate everyone who wants to run - and there were hundreds more this year - but we are more concerned with quality than quantity, and 625 is about all that we can handle.

The event starts and ends on Canal Street near the Farmers Market and winds along Howe Avenue, across Bridge Street to Derby, along Main Street to Elizabeth Street to the Derby Public Library and then reverses course back to Canal Street. It 's a great site to see such activity on the streets, and we invite everyone out to cheer on the runners.

One last thing - in addition to turning into a great community event, it has become a successful fund raiser as well with approximately $50,000 raised for the Boys & Girls Club. That's a tribute to all our sponsors, an incredibly dedicated group of volunteers and our runners. To learn more about the race click here.

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.

Do You Know What to Bring to a Food Drive?

Thanksgiving is unmistakably the busiest time of the year in food pantries. Food drives are frequently held in an effort to meet the ever-increasing need for assistance. The trick to these food drives is donating items that can be used. Do you know what to bring?

The biggest phrase you may hear around food drives is non perishables. Simply put, non perishables are food items that have a very long shelf life and won’t spoil immediately. Here are some good examples: ready to eat vegetables, bottled water, protein bars, cereals, pastas and noodles, crackers, rice, peanut butter and baby food in addition to various food spices and seasonings. Also remember that you can’t go wrong with canned, jarred and pickled foods like: canned veggies, soups and tuna fish.

Other items you might want to consider are a variety of hygiene products. These can include but are not limited to: toilet paper, razors and shaving cream, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, deodorant and nail clippers. While food this time of year is very important, these basic products can easily be forgotten.

As a rule of thumb you should check with a coordinator of a local food drive to see if there are any particular items of interest they are seeking. Are they looking for turkeys and actual groceries because they have refrigerated trucks or are they just collecting canned products? Bringing the wrong products can be a waste and can be avoided with a simple phone call.

As always you can contact our Valley agencies with food pantries for details.

Father McKenna St. Vincent de Paul Society - (203) 734-7577

Spooner House - www.act-spooner.org

IN 2008, YOUR DOLLARS HAVE PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING SERVICES:

• Certification of over 3500 individuals in CPR, first aid and water safety?
• Canteen and volunteer support to 85 blood drives?
• Food, shelter and support services to 4291 Valley individuals and families?
• 102 homebound senior citizens with nutritious diet-approved meals?
• 3035 Valley youth with recreational, educational, physical and social development programs?
• 1658 Valley girls with life skills programs?
• 5280 Valley school aged students with education on body safety, sexual harassment, bullying, and sexual assault and date rape drugs?
• 102 children who have experienced abuse, neglect or abandonment with a safe home?
• Confidential crisis and counseling services, a 24 hour crisis hotline and support groups for victims of domestic violence?
• Quality, safe childcare in nurturing environments to over 600 children?
• High quality legal services to 195 individuals unable to obtain legal representation due to limited income, disability or discrimination?
• Compassionate, excellent home healthcare services?

As you can see, your dollars made a huge difference in our community. Please continue to give what you can to help our community in need. THANKS!!!!

Children & Poverty in the Valley - followup

It was a very interesting session last night as TEAM, Inc. and the Valley Council for  Health & Human Services brought together the community to discussion children & poverty. Close to 100 people showed up and participated. the Valley Independent has the full story including some video here.

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.

Children & Poverty in the Valley

The Valley Council for Health & Human Services and TEAM, Inc. are hosting a special community conversation on children and poverty in the Valley. Elaine Zimmerman, Executive Director of the CT Commission on Children will be on hand to inform the community to what extent there is an issue in the Valley and to create a dialogue on how to deal with it.

The session will be held at John J. Sullivan's in Ansonia from 5:00 pm to 7:30 PM. Call 203-736-5420 ext. 1202 if you are interested in participating. Reservations are required as there will be a dinner served. Child care will also be provided.

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.

Art & Philanthropy Joined Together

 The Valley Philanthropy Council held its second annual Art of Giving show yesterday at the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, and it was a major success. The Council, which was first started by Jane Snaider, former Director of Resource Development at Valley United Way, is a collaborative effort of eleven
Valley organizations including Valley United Way. The Council partnered with the Valley Arts Council on this project which created a juried art show with artists submitting pieces under the theme of the Art of Giving. The art work will be on display at the Chamber throughout the month.The two Councils will share in the proceeds of any sales made of the art work with the artists receiving the bulk of the sales for their works.

Our own Dave Grant was presented with the Philanthropic Leader of the Year Award at the event, the first of several awards for him this month! You can find full coverage of the event including a video on the Valley Independent Sentinel.

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.

HAIR TO CUT HUNGER

A food drive for Valley United Way to assist the Spooner House of Shelton and St. Vincent dePaul of Derby is the brainchild of hair designers Diana Cirillo and Josie Campolattano. Diana is co-owner of Panache Hair Design, Shelton with her sister Jeni Mastrony and Josie is the owner of 67 West Hair Designers, Seymour. Both understand that the need for food in the Valley is great and want to do whatever they can to help. They have also enlisted some of their colleagues. Ron Sisbarro of Barber on Main-Ansonia; Maria Anderson of Maria’s Hair Gallery-Derby; Jennifer Kimen of New Day Hair & Skin Salon-Shelton; Lisa Raymond of Kut Rite-Seymour; and Penny Marganski of Scissors-Hair by Penny LLC-Ansonia, have all banded together with Diana and Josie to collect nonperishable’s through Thanksgiving and then once again for the Christmas holiday. Not only are these salons collecting food, “We are raising awareness on how important it is in these difficult economic times to help our friends and neighbors improve their quality of life,” states Diana Cirillo.

Diana, Josie and friends welcome other hair salons to join HAIR TO CUT HUNGER by calling Laurel Vicidomino at Valley United Way 203.926.9478 or by emailing laurel.vicidomino@valleyunitedway.org. All Valley residents are welcome to bring their non perishables to any of the participating salons at the addresses below:

Panache Hair Design, 504 Bridgeport Ave., Shelton

67 West Hair Designers, 39 New Haven Ave., Seymour

Barber on Main, 328 East Main Street, Ansonia

Maria’s Hair Gallery, 2 Division Street, Derby

New Day Hair & Skin Salon, 500 Howe Ave., Shelton

Kut Rite, 63 New Haven Road, Seymour

Scissors-Hair by Penny LLC, 48 Bridge Street, Ansonia

Finding new ways to help provide more food

Last night at the Gold Seal Awards Dinner, Jim Guarrera of Carey & Guarrera received one of the prestigious awards for his dedicated community service. Jim has been involved with many Valley organizations down through the years, but in recent years has been heavily involved with the St. Vincent DePaul Society which became United Way's newest partner agency earlier this year. Jim has seen a explosive growth in the need for food for clients that has been duplicated across the Valley with every agency that provides food for those in need.

Earlier this year, Jim came up with a great idea to prevent waste, do a bit of "recycling" and help alleviate hunger all at the same time. Because of St. Vincent DePaul's past involvement with our Corporate Volunteer Council's Harvest House projects, he knew that Valley United Way has a very strong interest in hunger in the Valley. In addition to Harvest House, we have also been working with the Postal Workers on the annual food drive that they do in the spring. He also knew that United Way has been a leader in the use of electronic technologies that might come into play on his project. Jim apprached Pat Tarasovic and myself with his idea to raise more funds not only for St. Vincent DePaul, but for all the agencies that have food pantries.

Jim's idea is fairly simple, but requires some work to implement. He noted that there are many people throughout the area who purchase tickets for sporting and cultural events and never use them. He asked, "Why don't we ask those people to donate unused tickets to be sold at their face value and the proceeds used to buy more food"? He even had a catchy name for the project - soupbowltickets.com. It sounded practical for us, so we sat down and started to work on the concept. A website will be developed where the story of the need can be told and the donated tickets can be sold.

The first step was to get a grip on the need and to examine just what is being accomplished and how. We convened a meeting of the providers, and they have helped compile data on what they are currently doing and the gap for unfilled needs.

At that point, a remarkable thing happened. Griffin Hospital approached United Way for help in implementing a very ambitious gift that they wanted to make in the form of a full trailer truck of new food for the community! We temporarily shifted gears from Jim's concept to coordinating Grffin's amazing gift. You can read the story of that remarkable gift by clicking here.

That was quickly followed by the Postal Wrokers drive and then our Corporate Volunteer Council's Harvest House project. (Full story & video - http://www.valleyunitedway.org/VAC/weekofcaring/2009/news.htm).
Those were all incredible success stories, but not enough to keep up with the increasing demand. St. Vincent DePaul has already run out of food!

Last night, Jim spurred us all back to action during his touching acceptance speech. He publicly announced our intent to make soupbowltickets.com a reality. On top of that, he announced that the Valley Board of Realtors is making a doantion of $1,000 to help get the project up and running. We're not there yet, but we'll let you know when we are ready.

In the meantime, if you are interested in the project, please contact us. Let us know what you think of the project and maybe even your willingness to get involved!

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.

Just how far can Nick Tarasovic go for Valley United Way?

Last week we were dealing with Farmers who had a unique Facebook challenge for Valley United Way, and this week we are moving on to athletes - well at least one athlete! I've known Nick Tarasovic ever since Pat Tarasovic came to work at United Way years ago. In Nick's case, I came to know of his love of sports and his high level of athletic ability. We even managed to get together for some basketball down through the years though the Senior Games. If you know Nick, he's pretty tall, and that always comes in handy when playing basketball. I'm not so sure that it is a great advantage when you are running, swimming or biking which is now Nick's big challenge - and ours.

Nick has been a runner forever, but in the last couple of years he has added the biking and swimming and completed his first mini-triathlon earlier this year after having run in several marathons down through the years. I don't think I need to say much about the dedication and determination that it takes for a marathon; but when you throw in biking and swimming events on top of it, it takes on a whole new life of its own. Evidently it works for Nick as he has taken off about forty pounds and is also taking seconds off all his times for the various events as well.

He has set a goal to run in the IronDistance Triathlon at Plymouth Rock next September and has already begun a training regimen. All he will have to do is swim 2.4 miles, ride a bike for 112 miles and run 26.2 more miles!! Now this is where you can participate by motivating Nick and helping United Way at the same time. We're following Nick's progress on our website and encouraging people to support his grueling schedule by pledging pennies per mile throughout his journey to the finish line next year. (You'd be surprised how pennies can add up when you train as much as Nick does!) It's simple to do by using the form on the page. During the course of the year, we'll be posting information and stories - and maybe some of your comments as we try to keep Nick motivated - not that he needs too much if you know Nick!

Nick gets plenty of motivation from his personal coach - granddaughter Grace Rose!

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at http://www.valleyunitedway.org/.