“Good evening, good folk of the twin cities — Benton Harbor and St. Joseph and suburbs. At last it’s here — the organization you’ve asked for these many, many months — The Twin Cities Community Chest. It’s YOUR Chest. It’s been put together for you — to help you and protect you in your financial support of recognized and long-operating twin city social service and community serving institutions.” With that opening salvo headlining a full page ad in the News-Palladium newspaper of Benton Harbor, Michigan on November 4, 1942, the organization that would eventually become the United Way of Southwest Michigan was incorporated and introduced the community to an $80,000 inaugural fundraising campaign for what was originally called the Twin Cities Community Chest.
Now, 75 years later, it’s another milestone year for the organization that continues to serve the community of Michigan’s Great Southwest like never before, clearly having evolved from fundraiser to game changer.
Whirlpool Corporation co-founder Louis Upton was the inaugural President of the Twin Cities Community Chest which over the years evolved in the Blossomland United Way. Since the mid-1980s, four organizations have merged into the team to become the United Way of Southwest Michigan.
The Watervliet Combined Appeal joined in the 1980s, the Red Bud/Harbor County United Way came aboard in 1992, the Cass County United Way in 2006, and in 201o the Greater Niles United Way stepped aboard the campaign bus.
Our United Way has always served all ages, socio-economic groups, genders and races. They serve people in every single community of our two-county area. Today, the United Way of Southwest Michigan focuses on the building blocks for a good life: Education, Income, Health and Basic Needs.
In 1942, the forerunners financially supported 7 local agencies. Today, the funding mechanism is more specific to programs and the work accomplished through them, and United Way currently funds 51 programs through 34 local funded partner agencies.
The impact is very real, and the evidence is profound. In 2016, United Way programs impacted nearly 73,000 people in Berrien and Cass Counties. No single person makes decisions with that wide-ranging of an impact, as the United Way team is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of 18 volunteers who are actively engaged in the operation of the organization.
Thanks to the colorful and historically significant successes of all forerunner agencies and today’s United Way of Southwest Michigan, the organization and its staff and volunteers are celebrating 75 years of service to Southwest Michigan.
Even in that very first year, armed with a goal of $80,000, the Red Feather Community Chest Campaign topped $122,000, establishing a notable track record for many times over the years achieving the goal and beyond, or at least topping the dollars raised in the previous year.
Now, 75 years later that track record and legacy goes well beyond the dollars on a thermometer gauge to track the progress. United Way of Southwest Michigan has dramatically evolved from a fall financial campaign into a legendary band of unique problem-solvers who work tirelessly 365 days a year to assure that the needs of the collective community are being met, whatever those needs might be.
As the United Way of Southwest Michigan kicks off the 2017-18 campaign this month (beginning the week of September 11th) they are decidedly into the spirit of their 75th anniversary. To commemorate those 75 years of service, the United Way team is encouraging the community-at-large to participate in 75 ACTS OF KINDNESS and then to share their experience to social media platforms using #75ActsUnited. These acts can include taking out the trash for your neighbor, buying a coffee for the person behind you in the drive-thru line, or delivering a box of bagels to a municipality department.
Additionally, and well outside the scope of a once-a-year fall campaign, United Way is helping in increasingly unique ways. By way of example:
- With 1-in-5 children in Berrien and Cass Counties being food insecure, and food pantries around the 2 counties having trouble stocking shelves during the summer months, United Way of Southwest Michigan, created CHRISTMAS IN JUNE, an event that mobilized 100 volunteers from 37 different businesses across the two counties to collect pantry items. Over 15,000 items were collected that impacted 22 different shelters all across the 2 counties.
- With Many senior citizens in southwest Michigan in need of a helping hand when preparing for winter, United Way has continued a newer tradition of their DAY OF ACTION FOR SENIORS, with more than 550 volunteers raking leaves, cleaning gutters and checking smoke alarms at homes throughout Berrien and Cass Counties. Nearly 250 seniors were served through that event in 2016.
- With many families having trouble affording the school supplies that their children need to be ready for day one of school, United Way of Southwest Michigan’s SCHOOL SUPPLY SPECTACULAR saw 134 volunteers distribute more than 900 backpacks filled with the necessary school supplies to low-income families across Cass County.
- With low-income working families needing help in preparing their taxes to increase their financial stability, United Way has introduced Volunteer Income Tax Assistance in recent years. Earlier this year, 26 volunteers logged 320 hours preparing taxes for over 400 people through the VITA program. These volunteers helped produce Federal refunds totaling more than $432K, and State refunds totaling $147K.
United Way of Southwest Michigan has always worked with area companies and organizations to provide meaningful volunteer opportunities. In the past few years, requests to partner on larger scale project with United Way from area corporations has led to some very impactful work. Here are some prime examples:
Gast Manufacturing
The employees at Gast Manufacturing have a long history of volunteerism in SW Michigan. Three years ago they partnered with United Way of Southwest Michigan to identify ways to impact our partner organizations. This August a team of 10 people worked for 3 days — 9 hours per day — to help one of our local safe shelters by doing small repairs that were desperately needed to make the shelter feel like a home. The team of 10 fixed wobbly and leaky toilets, repaired broken and uneven tiles in the kitchen, created usable closets and replaced broken doors, they fixed the door on the fence so the children could be outside safely, removed rusted metal from the garage door and provided new linens and toiletries for residents. They paid for the materials themselves and even bought lunch and dinner for the shelter residents since the kitchen was out of commission for the day.
American Electric Power (AEP)
A team of 16 AEP employees spent one day this June creating a lovely garden space for the students and teachers and the Logan Center in Benton Harbor. The crew built garden boxes and filled them with vegetables and flowers. This is a key component in teaching kids to eat healthy as they get to help grow the vegetables so it’s exciting to eat them. It also teaches the students how to care for their environment. Since moving into the old Stump School Logan Center has slowly been upgrading the building but projects like these take the school experience above and beyond for the entire staff and students. AEP is planning a “Part 2” to this work by building a pavilion in the backyard within the next 6 months so the students have outdoor shade in the summer.
Whirlpool Corporation
This year Whirlpool embarked on a bold project with United Way to create specific volunteer opportunities for their employees. Whirlpool employees packed 500 emergency food kits for Senior Nutrition Serves to give to area seniors so they will have them on hand in the more inclement winter months. They also feed over 300 families by giving 1,500 pounds of food to area residents through Feeding America food truck opportunities, and hosted a day for the residents at Harbor House that provided a fun opportunity for fellowship and conversation through a fun pizza and bingo party. In addition, they filled a truck with food for United Way’s Christmas in June, the summer food pantry restocking event, and they always have dozens of teams for the Senior Day of Action. Their employees turned out in droves for ‘Rock the Boat,’ the 2nd annual cardboard boat racing fundraiser, with 85 volunteers putting in 345 hours, on and off the water.
The impact of United Way of Southwest Michigan goes beyond the dollars raised during the annual campaign, as well. There is considerable “Added Value” to each year’s efforts, including these impacts in 2016:
- Local dollars support local programs: 51 programs at 34 partner agencies…
- 72,661 total individuals served – that’s nearly 1-in-3 people across Berrien and Cass Counties who were directly impacted by United Way…
- $3,171,931 were leveraged through United Way funding. In order for programs to receive state and federal grants, they must show that there is local support for local programs. United Way dollars can be used as that match, which has brought in more than $14 million additional dollars in the last 5 years, alone…
- 32,491 total United Way volunteer hours = $764,832 in service donated…
- $8,474,578 = total value of United Way services. That’s a substantial bottom line for a $4-million campaign.
Putting those numbers into human terms, these are just a handful of the reasons the United Way of Southwest Michigan goes to bat for the community every day of the year, and the results that happened thanks to the generosity of the community:
- Fact: 31% of students in Berrien and Cass Counties don’t graduate from high school on time. Result: 93% of children maintained or improved early learning skills in 2016…
- Fact: 16% of people live below the poverty line. Result: 84% of individuals who became employed, stayed employed in 2016…
- Fact: 1-in-3 adults in Berrien and Cass Counties is considered obese. Result: 5,433 children participated in a United Way physical activity program in 2016…
- Fact: 1,079 students are homeless in Berrien and Cass Counties during the 2015-16 school year. Result: 40,009 nights of shelter were provided to more than 2,000 individuals in that same time frame.
In that full page ad from the forerunner to today’s Herald-Palladium newspaper, the campaign organizers implored potential donors: “Let’s Keep the Homefront Strong. Watch for the red feathers…wear ’em…It tells the world you’ve subscribed to the Chest. It’s Your Chest…It’ll Make a Better Town.”
One thing that remains absolutely constant from the start 75 years ago to present day life in Michigan’s Great Southwest — Only Together Can We Win. The ad proclaimed it so in November of 1942, it is true today, and it will be true 75 years from now as well. Congratulations to everybody connected with the United Way of Southwest Michigan, and best of luck on your next 75-year run.
