As I compose this letter, we are all going into our ninth month of coping with something none of us could have ever anticipated or imagined. I promise to do my best to avoid using the word “unprecedented,” which is so obvious it’s irrelevant. As I entered my term as chairman of the board of directors for United Way of Weld County (UWWC) on July 1, 2019, our vision did not contemplate a world-wide pandemic that forced life to change in ways that still seem unreal, an election season with more division than I can remember in my lifetime, a social revolution that is forcing us to all reflect on our own personal biases in ways we haven’t seen for generations, and the list goes on (I didn’t even mention the murder hornets…). Yes, 2020 has been incredibly tumultuous, but in all of this, I’ve witnessed not only the lowest of lows, but also some of the highest of highs. Let me explain …
Just prior to becoming the chairman, UWWC was embarking on a journey shifting from a community impact approach to a collective impact approach that put the needs of the community in the center and built a coalition of service providers and services around that need. Truly putting the issue in the bulls-eye of the target and assembling the best marksmen available. Our first collective impact successes came in our work around Household Stability, as noted below:
- Your United Way facilitates the Coordinated Assessment and Housing Placement System or CAHPS program, and in coordination with 40 partner agencies has successfully housed 438 homeless veterans since 2016 with the vision of ending veteran homelessness in Larimer and Weld counties by the end of 2021.
- Weld’s Way Home, a program developed with the help of UWWC and other notable agencies, operates the Housing Navigation Center (HNC) and provided shelter, a warm meal and a place to sleep to 596 men and women from November 2019 to May 2020.
Other notable success stories in 2020 include:
- UWWC’s Reading Great by 8 (formerly Promises for Children) staff distributed more than 119,000 diapers to struggling families and partner agencies in Weld County during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Opened on Nov. 6, 2020, and available until April 15, 2021, UWWC is providing a non-congregate around-the-clock shelter for people experiencing homelessness who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 because of being 60-plus years of age or having a health condition such as heart disease or diabetes. Located in Greeley, up to 39 people will have a place to shelter from the cold and COVID-19. The UWWC’s Non-Congregate Shelter at Bonell is being funded by the City of Greeley and the State of Colorado Department of Local Affairs Division of Housing.
You can be proud of your United Way. The staff and volunteers at UWWC have been pouring their heart and soul into caring for our families, friends, neighbors and our community. This work is only possible thanks to the continued generous support of our donors. The need persists and, in many cases, has become greater. As we come to the end of the year and as we each reflect on our own experiences of 2020, I appeal to you to dig deep and give what you are able, as no amount is too small. As a fan of quotes (plagiarism is just easier…), I share one from President Ronald Reagan: “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
While this may be true, I challenge us to try to help everyone in our community.
Randy Watkins is the chairman of the board of directors for United Way of Weld County.