For nearly 100 years, the United Way of Greater Chattanooga has stimulated our community by linking people with the resources to help them.
In that time, the agency has been the single greatest social services partner the city has had. It has assisted generations of children in poverty, tens of thousands of students and masses of everyday families where a little extra help means the difference between surviving and thriving.
The local United Way kicked off its 2016 community campaign earlier this week in an effort to continue that work.
The campaign is seeking $11 million, an increase of about $250,000 from what was contributed in 2015.
The local United Way's community partners are like a who's who list of agencies providing services to people in Chattanooga: the American Red Cross, Boys and Girls Club of Chattanooga, Chambliss Center for Children, Chattanooga Goodwill, Chattanooga Room in the Inn, Orange Grove Center, Partnership for Families, Children and Adults, Salvation Army, Signal Centers, YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga. And that's just a handful of the partners who receive help.
Close your eyes and imagine the city without just one of those agencies.
Although the local United Way is close to a century old, experts say younger givers today demand to know exactly where their charitable dollars will go and how they will be used. Fortunately, our United Way has been supplying this information for years.
So, for the certainty that these community partners can continue their services, for the wisest and broadest use of donations, for sound and innovative ways of helping the most vulnerable, let's help our venerable social services partner reach its goal.