It's Stuff the Bus Season Again!

• By Amy Fluno, United Way’s 2-1-1 Program Director
• Summer vacation has just arrived - you wouldn’t think we should be talking about school supplies already but we are! There are families in our community who struggle to afford school supplies for their children. This is where we can all help and make a difference. Stuff the Bus and Stuff the Desk are coming soon and we need your donations.
• South Wood County
  The school supply drive for South Wood County will run from July 15th through August 8th. There will be drop-off sites at businesses throughout the area or you can bring the supplies to the United Way office. You can also call 2-1-1 for a list of drop-off sites in the area. If you prefer you can bring them to Lunch By the River on August 8th and help Stuff the Bus - well two buses to be exact! There is a list of the supplies needed on our website www.uwiw.org.
• Stuff the Desk distribution will be held again at Lincoln High School on August 17th from 8am to 12pm. Students who bring their backpack with them will be able to use the “FAST LANE” and get through the line quicker.
• Adams County
  Adams County is also having a Stuff the Bus event for local school children. The school supply drive will be held from July 22nd to August 16th. There will be drop-off locations at businesses throughout the county. Distribution will happen on August 20th from 12pm to 4:30pm and August 21st from 9am to 3pm at the Adams County Community Center. Families need to pre-register at Adams County Health and Human Services starting on July 29th and running through August 16th.
• Stuff the Bus/Desk is a great community event that helps our local students start the school year off right. Last year we gave over 1,400 students the school supplies they needed to have a great school year. This year we are hoping to be able to do the same. Please consider donating school supplies or making a monetary donation to this great event - and help us Stuff the Bus!

Community Impact Update

• By Tari Jahns, United Way of Inner Wisconsin’s CEO
• Earlier this spring United Way held a series of Community Conversations in our service areas. These events were well attended and gave us the opportunity to connect with our communities in a whole new way. The participants were from a variety of backgrounds and each had a different story and path that brought them to become engaged in this process. We had partner programs, donors, service recipients and community members who came to share their thoughts. For those who could not attend face to face we had a companion survey that could be taken online or by paper copy.
• Our focus is on the Building Blocks of a Better Life; Education, Income (Financial Stability)and Health. We asked the participants three questions - when you think about Education, Income and Health:
  • What are your hopes and dreams for your community?
  • What are the issues and concerns you have – what things are keeping your hopes and dreams from happening?
  • What can United Way do?
• The feedback that we received about the community is invaluable! There was so much great information shared at each conversation and on every single survey. Our Community Impact Committee is currently in the process of analyzing the data, looking for like themes and duplication. The outcome will be one or two strategy areas in each of the Building Blocks: Education, Income and Health. These strategies will then be developed into goals where we will focus our attention on coalition building around the strategy and investing funds toward the goal.
• In this process we have also determined that there are two current areas of focus that we will continue to support as safety net services for our communities; emergency shelter and food programs. There is a great need for access to housing and a high level of food insecurity in our area especially for children and seniors. We are committed to
  continuing our support for programs that address these needs.
• This is very challenging and ongoing work as the United Way Board of Directors, staff and volunteers look at what are the best strategies to meet the needs of our communities. We appreciate all of your support and participation along the way!