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Beth Truman Named General Campaign Chair for 2015-16 Annual Campaign

Beth Truman of Keene has been named General Campaign Chair for the Monadnock United Way 2015-2016 campaign. In accepting the position, Truman stated, “The three most compelling reasons to continue the important work done by the Monadnock United Way for me are my three children—and the invaluable ways that Monadnock United Way has protected them, taught them, and affected them. My youngest, Topher, is a graduate of the Rise for babies and family program. My daughter, Sophia, loves volunteering at The Community Kitchen with her brothers and donating to Hundred Nights Shelter. And when Taylor’s father passed away when Taylor was just an infant, we were grateful for the support of Southwestern Community Services through the WIC program. When my own father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, and I was working to support myself, my son and my father, the Castle Center became an essential part of our every day lives—and I could never express my sincere gratitude for all that they did for him that allowed me to keep him at home with me as long as possible. When other family members were passing, I have never been more relieved than when the Hospice Nurses from HCS arrived sharing their love, support and advice with me, so that I could care for my loved ones to the best of my abilities as their time was coming to an end.

“These are some of the reasons why I said ‘yes’ so enthusiastically. Because these are the profound ways that Monadnock United Way has benefitted my children and me, and this is what I want for all of you and everyone in this community: to know that we stand together and that we are never alone. I can imagine that each and every one of you could share a similar story about why you do the work that you do and choose to support Monadnock United Way because one of the 49 funded programs has affected your life.

“As we look forward to next year’s campaign I know that we can do even better than we have. I know that we can work together to accomplish all the goals that we set out for ourselves. This is both personal, and this is for the greater good of the community that we have the honor of living in—the Monadnock Region which I often refer to as the social equity capital of the world. There is no more engaged community anywhere else on Earth.”

Truman thanked and congratulated out-going General Campaign Chair, John Round, for his leadership, motivation, and running a strong campaign. Truman finished by saying, “I aspire to continue the wonderful work that you have done, John, as General Campaign Chair. Thank you so much for everything you have done for this campaign and for this community. Yours will be—literally and figuratively—big shoes to fill.”

Truman’s involvement with Monadnock United Way includes serving as a Division Chair for Towns IV and the Special Division. She is a past president of the Keene Public Library Board of Trustees and is a current Thayer Trustee. She is also the President of Keene ICE, event chair for the Cedarcrest Center for Children with Disabilities’ KeeneTucky Derby and a member of the Cedarcrest Advisory Board, as well as a member of the Ladies’ Charitable Society, Club Service Chair for the Elm City Rotary Club and a Volunteer Coordinator for the Clarence DeMar Marathon, in addition to many other past civic and volunteer boards and engagements.

Truman lives in Keene with her husband, Joe, and three children, Taylor, 12, Sophia 9, and Christopher 8.

Monadnock United Way Presents Awards at 2014-2015 Campaign Recognition Event

Monadnock United Way (MUW) 2014-2015 General Campaign Chair, John Round welcomed over 100 volunteers, donors, and agency partners to the Annual Campaign Recognition Event at the Keene Country Club on Thursday night, March 26, 2015. Round thanked and expressed his gratitude to the hundreds of volunteers, businesses, organizations, and donors who were involved this year’s campaign. Through individual and corporate contributions, the campaign has raised nearly $2 million, or 94% of the goal. Although just shy of the goal, the MUW Board of Directors has voted to add dollars from its unrestricted reserve funds to provide 100% funding to the partner agencies, ensuring that those in need will have the services and resources available to help them throughout the upcoming year.

Round announced the following 2014-2015 award recipients:

• $100,000 Circle, for companies and their employees whose combined annual gift to MUW totals $100,000 or more: C&S Wholesale Grocers, Liberty Mutual Insurance, and Markem-Imaje.
• Trailblazer Award, for the highest per capita giving in a first-time employee campaign: S&S Painting.
• Summit Awards, for employee groups achieving the highest per capita giving in an established employee campaign (five categories): 10 employees or less—the employees of The New Hampshire Trust Company; 11-49 employees—the employees of IPG Employee Benefits; 50-124 employees—the employees of Savings Bank of Walpole; 125-249 employees—the employees of ES3, LLC; and over 250 employees—the employees of Markem-Imaje.
• Enterprise Award, for an organization that brings a combination of innovation, energy, and caring to encourage their employees to become engaged in United Way campaign activities: Harrisville Designs.

The final award of the night, the Spirit of Monadnock Award, was presented by Greg Tewksbury from the Savings Bank of Walpole, last year’s Spirit of Monadnock award recipient. The Spirit of Monadnock Award is the highest honor Monadnock United Way presents each year—reserved for the organization and its employees who best exemplify the spirit of the region through continued, wide reaching support for the community and the Monadnock United Way. In presenting the award, Tewksbury announced, “We are grateful for all they do, not only for Monadnock United Way but our community as well, and are proud to present this year’s Spirit of Monadnock award to one of the community’s outstanding businesses, Fenton Family Dealerships.”

Walk This Way… “Walk A Mile” is Almost Here!!!

This year, Walk A Mile is April 18th at Keene State College, be sure to sign up today. The 9th annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes: The International Men’s March to End Rape, Sexual Assault and Gender Violence begins with registration at 9:00 a.m. in the Young Student Center. Donations go to supporting crisis intervention services and prevention education programs right here in the Monadnock Region!

Walk A Mile—or WAM—is a one mile walk for men, women and children to show their support for survivors of sexual violence throughout the Monadnock Region. The walk is led by men, some of whom will be wearing women’s shoes!

Visit http://www.firstgiving.com/MCVP to register to walk and set up your fundraising page. Can’t be at the walk on the 18th? No worries—you can still register and create a fundraising page! Prizes will be given out to the top individual fundraiser and top fundraising team!

Please join MCVP and the Keene State Community to help us raise awareness during April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

For more information about WAM, or if your business is interested in sponsorship opportunities, call Robin at 352-3844. With your support we can break the cycle of violence!

MCVP is a Monadnock United Way Agency.

Your Money, Your Goals

Your Money, Your Goals is a financial empowerment training toolkit brought to you by Monadnock United Way and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Your Money, Your Goals training toolkit has been designed to train service providers and other front-line staff to initiate discussions with their clients regarding financial literacy and empowerment. The information provided will train staff about different concepts around financial empowerment that will inspire clients to manage their money more effectively.

Some of the topics discussed in the various modules of the toolkit include dealing with debt, managing cash flow, getting credit reports and scores, and much more. Service providers will be able to use the toolkit, and develop a program tailored specifically to fit the needs and requirements relevant to the individuals and organizations they serve.

The Your Money, Your Goals training is very beneficial to a wide range of community organizations and human service agencies, and will help the staff of these programs better understand their clients needs.

Currently, 18 service providers from eight Monadnock Region organizations are attending the Your Money, Your Goals training. The training is held over two sessions of 3-hours each and will be offered again in the fall.

Training is facilitated by MUW staff, Cheshire Housing Trust staff member Carl Allen, and Keene State College Interns Heather Fagen and Sean Ballard. This training is free for service providers and is a result of planning among 10 area organizations that identified a need for service provider training on integrating financial empowerment conversations with the work they do with clients/guests/participants in their programs. It also links to the Community Well-Being report that identified the need for economic opportunity and this is a resource to empower individuals to assess their money, situation, hopes, dreams and goals with a toolkit for providers to utilize to meet them wherever they are in the process of improving or changing their financial situation.

For more information on the Your Money, Your Goals program, contact Kelly Brigham-Steiner at 603-352-4209 or kelly@muw.org.

Support for this program is made possible through a grant from the Bank of America Foundation.

SCS Energy Services

Fuel Assistance Program: We have taken 4,744 applications so far this program year! Thank you to everyone who assisted by completing landlord forms, providing fuel printouts, etc. for applications. We will continue to take application throughout the month of April and the Fuel Assistance Program closes on April 30th. All deliveries will need to be done by that date in order to be paid out of benefits for this current program year.

If you know of any households that have not yet applied for the program, please encourage them to call one of the offices (Keene: 352-7512 or Claremont: 542-9528) to schedule an appointment. The receptionists will put them through to a team member who will schedule an appointment for them. This may be tenants, family members, neighbors, clients, customers, etc—anyone in need of assistance is welcome to apply.

Electric Assistance Program: This program operates year-round. Households are encouraged to contact one of the offices to schedule an appointment to apply for electric assistance, which provides a discount off the electric bill each month for a period of twelve months. The discount amounts range from 8% to 77% and the application process determines the percentage provided.

Neighbor Helping Neighbor: This program is a little different than the Electric Assistance Program. Neighbor Helping Neighbor is primarily for folks who do not qualify for Fuel Assistance (have not received it in the past 12 months) and folks who have not received any assistance through Neighbor Helping Neighbor in the past 24 months. It provides a one-time payment to help prevent an electric disconnection.

Again, calling one of the offices and scheduling an appointment is the best way to apply for this program.

General Info: Feel free to check out our website for other programs offered by SCS, contact info for individual programs, etc.: www.scshelps.org.

Thank you and Happy Spring!
SCS Fuel Assistance Team

SCS is a Monadnock United Way Agency.

Can You BEE-lieve It’s Been 10 Years!!

Save the date and join The River Center on Friday, May 1st at 7:00 p.m. for the 10th Annual Community Spelling Bee at the Peterborough Players. This is a major fundraiser for The River Center: A Family and Community Resource. Several individuals and businesses have joined together to create the Spelling Bee Challenge; up to $6500, raised through the Spelling Bee will be matched dollar-for-dollar. Individuals, businesses, service and faith organizations can donate toward the Spelling Bee Challenge online at rivercenter.us, by contacting The River Center at 924-6800, info@rivercenter.us. Join in the fun by forming a team composed of three people from local businesses, organizations and families, and compete for the honor of top speller. Raffle tickets will be sold in advance for your choice of an iPad Mini, a cord of wood, a one year membership to the Bond Wellness Center, or a Bose Soundlink speaker. Purchase a ticket today at http://www.rivercenter.us/content/spelling-bee-raffle-tickets.

Refreshments, raffles, and prizes will also be on hand throughout the evening. Admission is $5.00 at the door. Join in the fun!

Pictured: 2014 Winning Team, The Library Pages; left to right: Brian Hackert, Elizabeth Taft, Lisa Bearce.
(Photo credit, Steve Lipofsky, Lipofsky.com)

The River Center is a Monadnock United Way Agency.

Monadnock United Way On Cheshire TV

Watch Cheshire TV Channel 8 (Time Warner Cable) every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. and see how our partner agencies, donors, volunteers, and corporate partners LIVE UNITED!

Can’t watch it on Wednesdays, or you are not a Time Warner subscriber, episodes are posted on the Monadnock United Way YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/monadnockunitedway).

All schedules are subject to change without notice.

Wish List

The deadline for Wish List items in the next U Review (May 2015) is Monday, April 20, 2015. Please send your updates and additions to gary@muw.org. Wish List items that have not been confirmed or updated risk being removed, so please remember to keep your items current.

Community Kitchen
Non-perishable food items in particular: canned fruit; apple sauce; canned/boxed meals; baked beans; ALL ITEMS can be dropped off at The Community Kitchen at any time — 352-3200

Monadnock Humane Society
Large bath towels; Kongs and other sturdy dog toys; cat toys; gift cards from local stores; cardboard scratching posts (new); dry pet food (unopened); canned dog food, wood pellets — 352-9011

Southwestern Community Services: Housing Stabilization Services
Sturdy cots/roll away beds; new bed pillows; new or gently used bath towels, hand towels, wash cloths; new or gently used single size sheet sets; new or gently used single size blankets/comforters; pre-paid gas cards; warm socks; rain jackets; diapers; feminine hygiene products — Laurie 719-4290

Winchester Learning Center
20 Pillow cases; bean bag chairs; a shelf for preschool; wooden blocks; bean bags to toss; corn starch; Legos; sand toys; toy trucks for outside (Tonka) — 239-7347