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Important Phone Numbers
Living in Holmes County
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 The United Way
Contact information -- 215 S. Walnut St. Wooster, (330) 264-5576, http://www.uwwayneholmes.org; InfoLink, (330) 263-6363 or (800) 247-9473.
Executive director -- Brenda Linnick
Hours -- Weekdays, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
More information -- The original Community Chest was created in 1940 to develop a single community-wide fundraising effort to support a hand full of local human care agencies. Unlike the old days, United Way of Wayne and Holmes Counties is no longer funding six agencies with one program each. In order to meet the growing demands of some 28 agency budgets, local agencies must conduct some of their own fundraising. The uniqueness of United Way's fundraising is that the organization is invited into the workplace where area companies offer their employees the opportunity to donate through payroll deduction, a method that makes charitable giving affordable for anyone.
United Way has spent the past three years examining what the Vision should be for our community. The organization has changed its mission, "Uniting people and resources in a community-wide effort to improve lives," so it better reflects this new direction.
The old concept of the "Community Chest, money in, money out," has been replaced with a community-impact approach. Agencies are being asked to measure the "impact or change" created by the programs for which they are requesting United Way funding. No longer just a "funder of agencies,"United Way is instead a "funder of outcomes." The organization's main focus is to build partnerships with business, industry, health and human service agencies, education, government and individual citizens in order to create a community-wide blueprint which addresses our community's most pressing issues.
As evidenced by the failure of our old welfare system, our community cannot just continue to treat the symptoms of a condition. We must understand the root cause of that condition. That is what United Way has been focused on ... moving from providing a band-aid approach to looking for the root cause of homelessness, under-employment, substance abuse, children not ready to learn and more.
This work requires collaboration not only to identify priorities, but also to find agreement on how we, as a community, will solve the problems. But most importantly, it will have a measurement component, indicators which will consistently be evaluated to make sure we are changing lives for the long haul.
While many of the programs funded with United Way dollars are located in Wayne County, the services are utilized by both Wayne and Holmes County residents. Currently, the programs address four core areas that were identified as key areas of need:
Helping in Hard Times -- providing a network of emergency help.
Nurturing Children and Youth -- making sure all youth have the ability to live in a safe, healthy environment, and they have the skills to be successful in school.
Developing Family and Individual Life Skills -- working with families and individuals to make sure they have the skills and the knowledge they need to be self-sufficient.
Promoting Good Health -- Providing access to everyone needing health care and developing a community-wide approach to healthier living.
InfoLink, the only comprehensive information and referral service in both Wayne and Holmes Counties, connects people with services such as helping find emergency food, rent or utilities; child and elder adult care; treatment programs; volunteer opportunities and thousands of other topics. More recently, the program has partnered with local government-funded programs to become the central intake site for the following programs:
ChildLink -- connects youth with programs needed to achieve success.
Healthy Start/Healthy Families -- free-to-low-cost health care program for children and families who meet government income guidelines.
Help Me Grow -- a networked system of services for families with children (prenatal through age three).
Kinship Navigator Program -- addresses special needs of relatives and non-relatives who provide permanent or temporary care for children whose parents are unable or unwilling to do so.
SeniorLink -- provides area senior adults with information about services available to them.
VolunteerLink -- connects people with area volunteer opportunities.
Submitted by Brenda Linnick, executive director
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