Archive for August 2019
Live United: How Labor & United Way Transform Our Community
by Colleen Sullivan Editor’s note: On upcoming this Labor Day weekend, United Way celebrates and thanks our friends in Labor who generously give their time and resources to support our work. We asked our Labor Liaison, Colleen Sullivan, to share her perspective. Live United! We wear the shirts, slurp coffee from mugs emblazoned with it,…
Read MoreMeet the 2019 STAR Award Winners
This year’s STAR Awards ceremony showed that the power of volunteerism is stronger than ever, and not limited to a single community. United Way BCKR and Gryphon Place partnered to host the first regional STAR Awards on Aug. 20 at Sherman Lake YMCA Outdoor Center, bringing together volunteers from both the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo…
Read MoreMaking It Personal: Local Boy Helps ‘Stuff The Bus’
At age 13, Hunter Clemons impacted more lives this month than most of us do in a year. When the eighth grader at Michigan Center Junior High heard about United Way’s Stuff The Bus, he decided to earn chore money and invest it in backpacks and school supplies for kids in need. “One day my…
Read MoreCalculating Move: Empowering People to Succeed
by Bethany Stutzman One of the big lessons that we in the nonprofit sector keep learning is this: We don’t have all the answers. But much of the time, the people we’re trying to help do. A case in point: A few weeks ago, I and several of our United Way staff visited the Family…
Read MoreCall to Advocate: SNAP Rule Change Will Mean More Hungry Families
More than 3 million Americans, including hundreds locally, could lose food assistance under a proposed federal rule change. That means more hungry families in our region. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants to change a rule that lets some people who earn slightly over the income limit for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—SNAP, or…
Read MoreInvesting for Impact: $6.24 Million in UWBCKR Grants Drives Change
Childhood trauma, infant health, stable housing and food insecurity are among 110 area programs receiving a total of $6,247,821 in grants from United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region. Sixty programs will receive a total of $3,718,401 in strategic grants annually for three years, according to Alyssa Stewart, Vice President of Impact &…
Read MoreSee the Nominees for the 2019 STAR Awards
This year’s STAR Awards event is fast approaching, and we can’t wait to celebrate the amazing volunteers who make Battle Creek and Kalamazoo better communities every day. The public is invited to join us at 5 p.m. Aug. 20 at Sherman Lake YMCA to honor our winners, and the 40 volunteers who were nominated for…
Read MoreRising STAR: JobSTAR Adds New Cohort, New Success Coach
by Ken Toll Just 17 months ago, I had the honor of leading the announcement of JobSTAR, Jackson County’s new business resource network. It was an exciting day! I remember how proud I was of the partnership that formed JobSTAR—the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Works! Southeast, the Department of Health and Human Services,…
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