Before I write another word, I want to thank you for your belief in the power of community and in United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County.
As your new President and CEO, I’ve spent my first six months on the job meeting as many volunteers, donors and community leaders as possible. I wanted to hear first-hand what you value about our United Way and hope we’ll take on in the years ahead.
I walked away from these meetings with a sense of gratitude that I wasn’t prepared to feel. The commitment our supporters have for our neighbors and for being a part of something greater than themselves is inspiring. I am also humbled by the reach of our relationships -- spanning so many perceived barriers of age, race, gender and geography. It is something we must never take for granted.
I have to say, I had these same feelings as I sat in the room for the fall convening for our Community Schools. In that room there were people from every walk of life and position of power; 13 year-olds sat next to school administrators, teachers and counselors, who sat alongside grassroots nonprofit representatives, who sat next to professors from higher education, who sat next to parents, local business and government leaders.
They spoke honestly with each other about tough issues, but you could see they knew these issues weren’t bigger than their commitment to do the hard work needed to make change happen. We agree.
I want to thank you again for all you do to create a strong and just community, and I hope you and yours had a beautiful, healthy and happy holiday season and an even better new year.
We have a lot to accomplish in the coming years but I want to thank you for all you do to make this community more equitable. Thank you for choosing to Live United!
Dan Leroy
President and CEO
Have you seen what your support has made possible?
- Our Early Warning Response System is now in 30 schools and 13 after school sites reaching 19,000 students. Read more about it.
- We held 87 Homework Diners during the 2018-19 school year and served almost 8,000 meals at those four county-wide locations. And we are starting to see results. Of the middle school students who attended at least four Homework Diners: 78% met school attendance goals of 90% or more; 85% improved behavior; and 63% met their grade goals. See more details here.
- We are expanding 2-1-1 services. Using a new tool that we helped build, NCCARE360, United Way’s NC 2-1-1 team will now be able to help physicians connect their patients to community resources like food, housing and transportation in an effort to improve their health. We are the first state in the country to create such as system and everyone is looking at us to see how we do. Read the summary.
