During the month of October, United Way of the North Shore, area food pantries, local businesses, and volunteers combined efforts to help residents in need by replenishing local food pantry shortages. As part of United Way’s Campaign Kick-Off, donated goods were distributed among the New Trier Township Food Pantry, Moraine Township Food Pantry, Hemenway Church and the Salvation Army.

The event was a huge success and collected a grand total of 2,500 pounds of food and other donated goods! The organizations were overjoyed with the donation as it means they can continue to serve families deprived of basic needs on the North Shore.

The success of the food drive is proof that when a community works together, great things can be accomplished. The United Way of the North Shore would like to personally thank Harris Bank, Coldwell-Banker, Northern Trust, Lake Bluff Public Library, Sunset Foods, National City Bank, Evanston Public Libraries, Evanston Civic Center, Bank of America, Chase Bank, Willow Hill Executive Offices and blank packaging co. for partnering with us in this work. The residents of the North Shore should be proud of their friends and neighbors who stepped up to help those in need.

Collaboration with community partners and volunteers allows United Way to continue to work toward our mission of improving lives and mobilizing the power of communities. When communities work together, we can create lasting change and continue to LIVE UNITED!

This month the United Way of the North Shore is kicking-off its annual campaign to support services that bring positive, lasting change to communities. This year’s goal is to raise $1 million locally.

Despite its reputation, the North Shore area is not immune to the current economic crisis.  Food pantries throughout the region have seen demand reach unprecedented levels.  Pockets of homelessness, especially in Evanston, are growing rapidly.  The rising unemployment, combined with a depressed real estate market is also negatively impacting many North Shore communities.

As the largest non-government funder of health and human services, United Way does what no single organization alone can do to address the key issues people face around income, education and health. However, the programs and charities funded by United Way are serving more clients with fewer resources.

“We hope that residents in each of our North Shore communities consider increasing their financial support to United Way,” said John Ropiequet, United Way of the North Shore Board of Directors President. “The time to give has never been greater. While we can’t eradicate all of the need in our area, we can certainly make a difference.”

To find out how you can help, contact the United Way of the North Shore office at (847) 999-2990, or visit our website to make an electronic pledge.

About the United Way of the North Shore
United Way of the North Shore improves the lives of people in need by mobilizing the caring and financial power of communities. Serving the communities of Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Northfield, Highland Park, Highwood, Fort Sheridan, Lake Forest and Lake Bluff, United Way of the North Shore engages local volunteers to work together to invest the time, leadership and resources needed to make long-lasting change, so that people can become independent.

United Way is evolving. To increase the depth and breadth of the impact we make in communities, United Wayis taking the initiative on empowering and assisting specific populations in a holistic way. This will included convening, partnering, collaborating and advocating-as well as funding. By leveraging all available resources – financial, staff, volunteers and agencies – in a variety of strategies, we believe we will be more likely to create sustainable positive community change. This model will be more proactive, issue driven and prevention focused; a powerful approach to thinking creatively and harnessing every asset to improve more lives. Additionally, these refinements allow us to align our United Way system across local geographies so that we have more consistency while still being sure each Member United Way is able to best address their local needs.

How did we choose this direction? We facilitated 12 community visioning sessions across our region and reviewed community assessments, agency surveys and secondary data. Thanks to all of you who have participated to date. We analyzed these sources to ensure that going forward we: Ø are addressing unmet needs;
Ø have the core competencies to execute on the issues;
Ø and that we could achieve measurable impact in a reasonable time frame. Additionally, where it makes sense, we will try to align regionally and nationally with other United Ways and United Way of America, to maximize consistency and leverage resources.

UWMC is accountable. Volunteers throughout the region will continue to be highly engaged and involved. Funding will be focused around specific strategies and outcomes. This will allow agencies to share best practices and report on common outcomes and successes in our communities. The reporting process will give us information about the ways we are achieving community impact. These results will be shared with our communities. As we continue to strive to improve the lives of people in our communities, your continual support as a community partner is vital. Thank you again for generously sharing your time, treasury and talents.