Montgomery County United Way's #1 Priority

No matter what you do: business executive, pastor of a church, community volunteer, director of a non-profit organization, or just someone going to work day to day trying to support your family; we all want to work together to solve the biggest problems facing our community.

Did you know that 37.8% of children in Montgomery County live at or close to poverty?  This statistic has made moving people out of poverty our #1 priority.

Who are the faces of poverty?

• Kids who get a meal at school but starve on the weekends.
• Seniors who can pay for food but go without medicine.
• A man who loses his job and his family lose their home.  He and his  family of four now live in their car.
• A divorced woman who is trying to make ends meet but has to take off time to get her kids to the doctor and loses valuable hours at work.
• A woman who has gone through the pain and anguish of surviving breast cancer, is forced to declare bankruptcy because she cannot afford the medical bills.
• A man with mental disabilities loses his parents and their life long support.  He needs help in job training but can't really afford to earn more than is allowed through his disability benefits.

Meet Angela Mitchell, pictured above, a Face of "Creating Independence".  Angela and  her husband were faced with having to ask for help from a local food pantry.  A MCUW program called "Project Independence", operated by The Mission Northeast,  found the solution to give her family hope for the future.  Read More.   Project Independence is the signature program created by the Creating Independence Impact Council, one of MCUW's three such councils, whose members search  for long term solutions to the county's most pressing issues. 

Montgomery County United Way would like to give you the opportunity to help "Move People Out of Poverty".  Call Rachel Harris at 281-292-4155, ext. 267 to find out about the Creating Indepence Impact Council. 

Do you part to GIVE, ADVOCATE or VOLUNTEER!

Keep your eyes open for the next newsletter highlighting our other priorities.  With your help, we can find answers so we have  better trained employees for business, connected people giving back to  their community through faith based and non-profit organizations and families who can provide a future for our children who live at or close to poverty.

SAVE THE DATE

February 22

10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Dean Towery Building, Conroe

Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security will be present to discuss "Human Trafficking - A Global Problem".

For more information, contact Maria Jordan at 936-760-4179, ext. 222 or email: maria@mcuw.org

In the coming months, MCUW will be revamping the www.helpourcounty.org website.  Leadership Montgomery County Class of 2007 developed this site and Interfaith of The Woodlands had maintained the site to promote volunteerism and donation management for non-profit organizations in our community.  Both have agreed to work in partnership with MCUW to enhance the site's capabilities.

The new web based software is user friendly and robust with options to make volunteering seamless. Users are matched up with non-profits who have volunteer projects and opportunities.  Users log on to the site, enter the types of volunteering they would like to do, then the software will match them up with available opportunities based on skill levels, times available, interest level and more.

The site is currently available on www.mcuw.org/volunteer but will soon be updated on www.helpourcounty.org.

Watch for announcements in area media in April 2011 about the new format.

Thanks to Interfaith of The Woodlands for its past work on the site and Leadership Montgomery Class of 2007 for the creation of the site as their class project.

Interested in getting your company in front of Montgomery County residents?  Sponsorships are available for the new site.  Click on

Opportunities for Sponsorship for more information.

Give.

Thanks a Million!

Thanks to Anadarko Petroleum Corporation for their first million dollar contribution to Montgomery County United Way.

With this contribution, MCUW is now at 94.6% of its 2010 - 2011 goal of $3.9 million.  This puts us in sight of exceeding the goal and reaching the stretch goal of $4 million, set by the campaign cabinet, under the direction of Barry Carpenter, 2010 - 2011 Campaign Chair!

Thanks also go out to Conroe Regional Medical Center for their employee contribution of $17,000  in this year's campaign.

Amegy Bank, Lone Star College and NOV are conducting their annual campaign in February.  We look forward to announcing a banner year for LSC for investing in Montgomery County United Way funded programs that improve lives right here in our community!

Thanks for your continuing support as our donors and volunteers!

Montgomery County United Way is committed to removing barriers to education for children.  The Success By 6 Committee is planning a new path for this very vital program that aims to ready children for success in school by age 6.

Rachel Harris, MCUW's Director of Inititives and the committee are exploring a new grant program that would increase access to high quality Pre-K programs.

By readying Pre-K program directors for development in Texas School Ready Certification, MCUW's SB6 will aid in preparing children for success in Kindergarten.

Find out more, click on the above link or email: rachel@mcuw.org or call her at 936-760-4179, ext. 267.

Thanks to organizations like Gallup Consulting (Linda Grasley is pictured above) along with several Market Street businesses, over 20 children had gifts for Christmas.

MCUW assisted with the overflow of requests from the community, who might have missed the deadlines at Interfaith of The Woodlands or Salvation Army for registering their families for help.

44 Families and 116 individuals were connected with Santa Volunteers like Gallup, Dupont, Target, Salvation Army and ExxonMobil & Huntsman to provide gifts.

To register as a volunteer for MCUW's Days of Caring, click on Volunteer.