You think that it can’t happen to you.
Any of the thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina could have thought that. Perhaps the parents of either of the babies born on Interstate 55 as they were fleeing the destruction of their homes even thought that.
With that in mind, then, giving a little bit of money to the United Way might not be a bad idea.
The 2005 fund drive for the United Way of Greater St. Louis kicked off with a breakfast Sept. 1 at Whittemore House. University faculty and staff members should have already received pledge cards in the mail.
This year’s goal is the highest yet for the University, as Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton set the bar at $535,000 — an increase of $10,000 from last year.
“One of the great things of the St. Louis United Way is that it is one of the most efficient programs in the country in terms of how much money actually goes into the programs of the United Way,” Wrighton said. “Ninety cents of every dollar given to the United Way goes into the hands of those in need.”
A gift of $100 can provide any of the following: five days of food for a family of four; 14 hours of after-school tutoring for high-risk youth; eight hours of elderly personnel care; or 15 books for a lending library.
The region is on top in another area, too. Despite being just the 18th-largest metro area in the nation, St. Louis has ranked eighth in terms of support for the United Way for at least the past four years.
The United Way provides assistance to more than 200 health and human-service organizations in Missouri and Illinois, with one in three people in the region being helped by a United Way-assisted organization.
One of those is Nurses for Newborns, whose development director, Claire Devoto, also addressed the breakfast. Nurses for Newborns provides services newborns and their families who might be down on their luck.
Devoto recounted a recent story about a visit to a South City family. When the nurses arrived, they found a 5-year-old boy dressed for school, but not going — the family couldn’t afford to put gas in the car.
The nurses also found a 2-year-old girl, unclothed, on the couch looking very lethargic. She wasn’t sick; the family just didn’t have much food.
In fact, there were three cans of beans, a can of corn and a can of peas in the kitchen. Nothing else.
The father left for work two hours early every day so he could walk and still make it on time.
The baby had a nice bassinet, blankets and looked happy, so the nurses knew this was a good mother and a good family, it was just going through a rough spot. So with the help of the United Way, the nurses went shopping and brought the family all sorts of food.
On a follow-up visit a week later, the 2-year-old ran into the arms of the nurses and hugged as tightly as she could, while the mother tearfully thanked the nurses for all of their help.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do all of that for this family, and all of the others, without the support of the United Way,” Devoto said.
The campaign officially ends in late October, but the Office of Human Resources will accept pledge cards up to the end of the calendar year and beyond.