Memorial Day 2016

A Salute to Our Troops and Veterans and Remembering the Fallen:  Our Work Continues

By Christine J. Robere, President & CEO, United Way of the Lakeshore
May 2016

As we recognize Armed Services Day and Memorial Day, and the men and women in our armed services past and present, especially those who gave their lives to ensure our liberties, it is a time to pause and reflect on these heroes, and their families, and the genesis of the United Way, which is captured in those who served and their families.

In 1918 our local United Way began as the “War Chest” in an effort to raise funds for war relief efforts supporting servicemen and their families. It came about as a result of interest and concern for combining many appeals in a single fund drive. The first year approximately 10,370 donors contributed $160,297.  In today’s terms, we are consistently at or above 10,000 donors, though the contributions put nearly $2.4 million into the resources and referrals for families across our three county lakeshore region.

Over the years our name has changed, but the United Way effort remains the same with a focus on helping to meet community priorities. Past names that some may recall include:  War Chest; Community Chest; Greater Muskegon War, Community Progress and Charity Fund (end of 1942); Greater Muskegon Community Progress and Charity Fund (1946, occasionally referred to simply as “The Chest”); Community Fund (1952); Community Chest of Greater Muskegon and Muskegon County (1953); Muskegon County United Appeal (1961); United Fund; United Way of Muskegon County (1973); and United Way of the Lakeshore (2007 merged Muskegon, Newaygo and Oceana Counties).

In the early 1940’s United Way was at the forefront of initiating child foster care in Muskegon County, securing affordable and safe child care for women who had to return to work because their husbands were fighting in the war, and coordinating with local schools to provide sleeping quarters for veterans who were relocating to this area for jobs. So, how are we doing?

We still share those early priorities and our bold goal is even more focused to ensure that 10,000 more working families who are Asset Limited, Income Constrained, and Employed (ALICE) meet their basic needs by 2025. Our recent series of community conversations surfaced health, education, and income security as some of the highest priority need areas of concern in human services, including barriers to child care and transportation. Women did not return as homemakers after the war, they stayed in the workplace as their income was now required to have a higher standard of living for their families. High-quality child care remains an acute issue with a huge gap that continues to challenge today’s working families just as it did during World War II.

As for veterans, we no longer provide sleeping quarters at local schools for returning veterans looking for work. So what are we doing to ensure that our veterans have shelter?

The Muskegon County Homelessness Continuum of Care (COC) indicates that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has directed each COC to end Veterans homelessness. In Muskegon County, the goal is to end chronic homelessness of our veterans by the end of 2017. There are 189 identified veterans in this category in Muskegon County and others in Newaygo and Oceana Counties as well. This year the Michigan State Housing and Development Authority as a partner in this effort is providing $34,560.  Both the HealthWest and Department of Health and Human Services are supportive local agencies. United Way of the Lakeshore works to ensure that these everyday heroes have shelter and that we give them a hand-up in our communities through our matching dollars with the COC, veteran’s services through the American Red Cross, along with an array of food, shelter, and utility assistance programs.

Similarly, many of our working families have veterans among their ranks or are descendants of veterans and know the struggles of providing for their families on a limited income. Today’s “ALICE” working family has multiple challenges. Many are one unforeseen event like an illness or car repair away from falling into poverty. Though more and more families are accessing 2-1-1 human services referrals and resources, child abuse and neglect remains high in our tri-county region. In addition, the Kids Count Michigan Data Book released in early 2016 shows that close to one-quarter of Michigan families with children are living in poverty. In Muskegon, Newaygo, and Oceana Counties, these figures are worse than the state average.

With the recession of the first decade of the 21st Century, we are told by the Senate Fiscal Agency that 23% of all manufacturing jobs that left the United States came out of Michigan. We know that loss in jobs and income acutely affects the economic landscape in our lakeshore communities, just as the war implications did previously. The United Way is a committed band of volunteers and donors who reflect a proud heritage of volunteerism and giving in our community. The organization, with L.C. Walker as board chairman, in 1942 turned what was a volunteer effort into an incorporated nonprofit, with a full-time director, in order to step-up its efforts due to the effects of the war. A decade later, an AFL-CIO staff position was created to strengthen the partnership with labor through community service education and the provision of information and referral services. The interest and need for business and labor in our community is at as high a level today as it was during war times. Our corporate and employee volunteers have remained steadfast to the challenge to help our communities and their people.

As annually over the past 98 years, United Way of the Lakeshore through more than 100 local impact volunteers and more than 10,000 donors has worked to identify and address the needs of our local communities by funding programs and services to meet those local needs. We have harnessed the collective wisdom of volunteers and donors as a resource for aligning priority community needs, raising funds to provide resources and referrals, and delivering help through aligned nonprofit agencies in the most efficient and effective way possible.

United Way of the Lakeshore is seen as a leader in community problem solving and is a member of numerous local collaborative groups. If there is a community concern to be addressed, you can count on United Way of the Lakeshore to be at the table to share the resources and expertise provided by its community volunteers and donors who have been invested in lending a helping hand to those across our lakeshore region, including the families of service men and women, and veterans for 98 years. We thank our committed donors and volunteers as we salute those in service, past and present, who have worked to ensure our liberties all these many years.

The United Way of the Lakeshore recommits to its work that began as a relief effort for the troops and their families as we honor them through our mission in uniting to inspire change and build thriving communities.