United Way of Greater Greensboro

There are approximately 45,000 students in the Guilford County School System who qualify for free or reduced price meals. For 180+ days each year, these students consistently know where their breakfast and lunch will come from.

What happens when school lets out?

Hunger is one of the most severe roadblocks to the learning process. Lack of nutrition during the summer months may set up a cycle for poor performance once school begins again. Hunger also may make children more prone to illness and other health issues. ¹

We believe that children should not have to worry where they will find their next meal. 

While Guilford County Schools provides seven Greensboro locations for summer meals, United Way’s 2012 Summer MeaningFULL Meals project seeks to provide substantive meals for students in the Gillespie Park Elementary and Wiley Elementary School communities for the 10 weeks school is not in session.

Because of generous contributions, last summer approximately 100 families received weekly bags of non-perishable food at Gillespie Park Elementary School.

This year we are expanding the MeaningFULL Meals program to include students in United Way of Greater Greensboro’s African American Male Mentoring Pilot Program, located at Wiley Elementary School. Both the Wiley Elementary School Principal Dr. Shelia Gorham and Mentoring Program Director Rashard Jones are excited to learn that the progress gained by the 50 young men in grades 2-5 will be supported by a unified effort to provide nutritional meals for the students over the summer break. In addition to MeaningFULL Meals, participants in the AAM Mentoring Pilot Program at Wiley will also participate in a summer enrichment program.

LIVE UNITED and get involved! 

GIVE
Donate food items including:
Mac & Cheese (microwaveable); Canned Veggies; Bread; Tuna & Chicken (vacuum sealed); Ramen Noodles; Fruit Cups; Applesauce; Fruit Roll-Ups; Juice Boxes; Dried Rice & Beans; Peanut Butter & Jelly (pre-made or individual jars); Breakfast Cereal (hot and cold); Pop-Tarts; Graham and Other Snack Crackers; Chips; Pasta & Spaghetti Sauce; Freeze Pops; Hamburger Helper; Single Serve Size Spaghetti & Lasagna (non-perishable)

Donations can be dropped off at United Way of Greater Greensboro’s Office (1500 Yanceyville St., Greensboro) Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.

ADVOCATE
Share facts about summer-time childhood hunger with your friends and colleagues. Click here to download one fact for each week throughout the summer.

Coordinate a food drive at your workplace. We need sustained drives from now until the end of August. Contact Tamera Zigalar (Leadership Giving Manager) at 336-378-6604 for additional information about coordinating a drive.

VOLUNTEER 
Sign up to pack bags and distribute food on a Tuesday or Thursday at either Gillespie Park or Wiley Elementary school. Distribution begins Tuesday, June 12 and ends Thursday, August 23. Click here to register as a volunteer. 

^{1-US Dept. of Agriculture Summer Food Service Program (www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/summer/)}

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Young Leaders will be getting together at The Speak Easy Tavern (1706 Battleground Ave., Greensboro) for an afternoon of friendly competition! We have the patio and back bar reserved from 1-4 PM and will be providing free appetizers.  Click the link below to register your team in the competition.

Young Leaders are professionals under age 40 who give $120 or more to support United Way of Greater Greensboro. Some Young Leaders are passionate about being an advocate for issues like Education, Income Stability, and Health. Other Young Leaders are passionate about volunteering and want to make things happen in our community. They know that if they want to make things happen they have to get involved.

Being a Young Leader is about connecting with people who care and supporting the work of United Way.  Like us on Facebook to stay up to date with Young Leader events and activities. 

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This blog post was written by Susan Watson in a series of guest blogs leading up to Women in Philanthropy on May 22nd. Susan works for Northwestern Mutual and has been a UWGG donor for 12 years.  Susan is a member of United Way of Greater Greensboro’s Women’s Leadership Council, serving as chair in 2010.  

I thought through the archives of my life to search for that one person on whom I could bestow the title of my mentor. Everybody has one, right? I discovered that my mentors were many, they were different ages, had different faces, different body styles, from different walks of life, they even crossed gender lines. They were teachers, supervisors, friends who listened and supported me, and coworkers who put up with me daily.

However, there was one woman, one lone woman who stood out from the others. She became a single parent when I was five years old. For 51 years she stood in front of me to protect me, she stood beside me to cheer me on, she stood behind me to prop me up on more occasions than I’d like to admit. And did I mention that more times than not, she stood in my face over her grandchildren, challenging every decision I made regarding them. June 20, 2007 my mother left a hole in my life that will never be filled, but her legacy lives on through my children.

Mentors can be younger than you. A mentor is someone who teaches and guides, listens, holds you accountable and loves you when you do not meet expectations. That is where my children come in; Julie, Jeff, and Justin continue to have more impact on me than anyone. They know my successes and my failures. They can read all of my unspoken expressions. They encourage and lift me up, they listen, and they have no problem calling me out when they have the audacity to think I’m wrong.

On May 22nd, United Way of Greater Greensboro will celebrate the power of women to create positive change in their community. Keynote speaker Karen Walrond, author of The Beauty of Different and photographer/blogger for Chookooloonks.com, believes that each of us have a unique and different gift that can make a big impact in our world. At United Way, we believe it’s women, just like Susan (and her mom), who will use these gifts in a way that makes the world a better place. 

For more information about how you can get involved with United Way, click here.

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“Paint Day” for the Claremont Courts Born Learning Trail will be held Monday, May 7th, from 10 am to 1 pm in the community located off Phillips Avenue.

Children enrolled in the Thriving at Three program, along with their parents, service providers, and staff and volunteers from Greensboro Housing Authority (GHA) and United Way of Greater Greensboro will participate in painting hopscotch, shapes, designs and numbers on the trail that extends approximately 1,373 feet through the heart of Claremont Courts to the McGirt Horton Library.

The Born Learning Trail is an engaging path of interactive activities that helps parents/caregivers promote language and pre-literacy skills, motor skills and school readiness for their young children. The trail, funded in part by the Tocqueville Women’s Leadership of the United Way of Greater Greensboro, includes exercise equipment, play and sidewalk graphics and will serve as an educational and fun area for young children in the community.

“Our commitment is that every child in the Claremont Courts community gets off to the best start. We care so deeply about these kids and their families,” said Keith Barsuhn, President, United Way of Greater Greensboro. Thriving at Three operates under the premise of “children who are healthy physically and emotionally by age three are more likely to be successful in school and in life.” “The partnership with GHA Born Learning Trail is the perfect way to link together important assets to the community,” stated Barsuhn.

Claremont Courts provides 250 affordable housing apartments for over 700 low-income, handicapped and elderly Greensboro residents. The modernization of the community was made possible by the award of $5.58 million in Housing and Urban Development Capital Fund Formula Grant funds pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The community now includes newly designed exterior facades for all apartments; the addition of a new handicap-accessible community building that houses community meeting space, a kitchen, Police Neighborhood Resource Center, property management offices, and program staff offices; and new landscaping throughout. An additional $1.8 million in GHA’s Capital Funds provided installation of 250 high energy-star rate 15 SEER heating and cooling systems for the community.

“With the help of Tocqueville Women’s Leadership and United Way of Greater Greensboro, we will offer our youngest residents a great beginning with the Born Learning Trail. Through the complete community renovations, we will provide Claremont families a great place to call home,” said Tina Akers Brown, Chief Executive Officer for the Greensboro Housing Authority.

Three hundred plants were also donated on April 26th by Syngenta. Mums, geraniums and salvia are being planted throughout the community. The official Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting for the community will be held May 11, 2012.

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This blog post was written by guest blogger Karen Walrond, photographer, author, and blogger who will be the guest speaker at Women in Philanthropy 2012 on May 22nd.  Like Karen’s blog? See her in person! Click here to purchase your ticket. 

Have you ever played that game where you draw up a guest list for your dream dinner party, including only famous people, whether or not they’re still living? I love that game. Some favourite answers I’ve often heard are John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Nelson Mandela, Jesus, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa. (Personally, I would invite all of those people, and also add Steve Jobs, Ann Richards, Barack Obama, Aretha Franklin, Bill Bryson, the Dalai Lama, Harper Lee, Maya Rudolph and Lady Gaga. That, my friends, would be a dinner party.)

Another person who has always been near the top of my invitation list, however (and also one of the most common answers I hear, of course) is Mahatma Gandhi. His philosophy on nonviolence, specifically to effect change, continues to be so revolutionary, especially in this time of continued war. I’ve been intrigued by his teachings since I was quite young, and the thought of ever sitting down with him one-on-one and asking him questions about his life and times is a fantasy I’ve harboured for many years.

Obviously, this is never going to happen. But late last year, I experienced the next best thing.

In early November, Stephen F. Austin State University held their annual Leadership Conference, and the theme was “Be the Change,” based on the quote from Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Needless to say, it was an honour to be asked to be the closing keynote for this event, and an invitation that I gratefully accepted. But I became even more excited when I subsequently learned that the lunchtime keynote was Mr. Arun Gandhi, the venerable Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson. Mr. Gandhi was born in apartheid-era South Africa, and after facing discrimination and bigotry (manifesting in a few serious beat-downs by both blacks and whites), his family sent him to India to live with his grandfather, during the time when the Mahatma’s influence was at its height. Over the weekend, Mr. Gandhi spoke several times — at a private dinner on Friday, and a private breakfast on Saturday morning before his lunchtime keynote — but for me, the most amazing moments came before breakfast the morning the conference began.

I’d woken up early to check out of my hotel and have a cup of tea before our host met us to take us to the university, and found Mr. Gandhi already sitting in the lobby reading the newspaper, having a cup of coffee. “You are welcome to join me,” he said with a smile, and so, after I made my cup of tea, I did.

We sat and talked for about 45 minutes — I asked him about his travels, his family, his thoughts on the state of the world today, all of which he answered fully and with astonishing patience, considering I was probably asking him questions he’d heard a million times before. The word that immediately comes to mind to describe him is “gentle” — he is a quiet man who speaks slowly and deliberately, and everything about him is circumspect. I couldn’t help but feel that I was in the presence of a truly extraordinary spirit, one full of incredible wisdom, and it made me feel very small and childlike, like I have so much more to learn and grow in my lifetime. He is extremely committed to spreading the message of pacifism and nonviolence espoused by his grandfather as much as possible, clearly considering it his life mission to carry on the torch. To say I am filled with admiration for the man would be the understatement of the century.

Later that day I watched him address the students of SFASU (some extraordinary spirits in their own right, I have to say), I couldn’t help but wonder if they really grasped what an incredible life experience they were having, just sitting in that room, listening to his words. In particular, I found myself looking around the room at the expressions of the young men and women in the room when Mr. Gandhi expressed his belief that we are not here by accident – we are here to fulfill a purpose. He talked about “trusteeship,” as espoused by his grandfather: we all have talents — each and every one of us — but we feel like we own the talent or gift. The Mahatma believed that we don’t own them, but rather we are trustees of the talent, and we are called upon to use these talents for the benefit of others.

I believe this wholeheartedly. In writing my book, The Beauty of Different, I found myself faced with a considerable body of evidence that everyone is Different, and that Different is often the source of immeasurable beauty. But I’ve also become to believe that perhaps these differences aren’t just coincidences – that there’s a reason we are Different. It has occurred to me more recently that these Differents may have been specifically designed for each of us to help change the world – or, at the very minimum, help change our individual worlds.

And even if I’m wrong — even if there’s really no reason for us to have these gifts, that there is no meaning behind it, and it’s just some sort of evolutionary scientific luck-of-the-genetic-draw — it still behooves us to use these gifts in a way that makes the world, or at least our worlds, a little better, don’t you think? Besides, I have to think that using our gifts and our passions to help improve our communities is a much more sustainable (and fulfilling) action than simply signing our names to cheques: in my experience, giving back while simultaneous feeding our souls with what we love always feels great.

It’s something to think about, I guess.

And it might even make for great conversation at that dream dinner party.

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United Way of Greater Greensboro held its “Breakfast for Champions” campaign celebration at the Greensboro Coliseum’s Terrace Banquet Room on Thursday, April 26th. Dr. Linda Brady, United Way of Greater Greensboro’s 2011 Campaign Chair, announced that United Way of Greater Greensboro has raised more than $10.6 million for the community. United Way of Greater Greensboro will continue to fundraise year-round to have the greatest impact on community needs.

Linda Brady stated, “This year’s campaign is an excellent example of how Greensboro steps-up to support community needs by giving, advocating and volunteering.” This year has been an exceptional year of milestones for United Way of Greater Greensboro. They include embarking on the African American Male Initiative, which supports educational and personal growth of 2nd-5th grade boys at Wiley Elementary School. United Way celebrated its first Million dollar donor, Lorillard, Inc. Additionally, African American Leadership held its inaugural African American Speaker Series featuring internationally renowned, Pediatric Neurosurgeon and bestselling author Dr. Benjamin Carson. “We are fortunate to have generous corporate and individual partners who join together to make a difference in our community,” said Brady.

Corporations and individuals were recognized for outstanding accomplishments throughout the 2011 Campaign. Corporate partners and individuals were recognized with a variety of awards. They are:

Spirit of Greensboro Award

The Spirit of Greensboro Award recognizes outstanding commitment, participation, volunteer engagement, and successful leadership.

Lorillard Inc.

Excellence Awards

This award recognized each top company in four groups who had the highest percent increase in their employee and leadership giving, volunteer engagement, and involvement over the previous year.

Large Company (1,000+ employees): Lorillard, Inc.
Mid Size Company (101-999 employees): Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard LLP
Small Company (Up to 100 employees): Southeast Fuels, Inc.
Non Profit Organization: Communities in Schools

Achievement Awards

Presented to companies with increased participation and giving per capita.

Platinum Level (100% participation and $400 + per capita)
2H Drafting, Inc.
Leeper, Kean & Rumley, LLP
Southeast Fuels, Inc.

Gold Level (75%+ participation and $250 + per capita)
Bank of North Carolina
The Business Journal
Carruthers & Roth, P.A.
Craft Insurance Center, Inc.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Hagan, Davis, Mangum, Barrett and Langley, PLLC
Kayser-Roth Corporation
Lorillard, Inc.
Premier Commercial Bank
Piedmont Natural Gas
PwC

Silver Level (50%+ participation and $175+ per capita)
Brown Investment Properties, Inc.
Dick Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Greensboro Chamber of Commerce
Johnson, Peddrick, & McDonald, PLLC
M.G. Newell Corporation
NewBridge Bank
Smith Moore Leatherwood, LLP
Bronze Level (40%+ participation and $100+ per capita)
Berico Fuels, Inc.
BGF Industries, Inc.
Duke Energy Corporation
First Citizens Bank & Trust
Hospice & Palliative Care of Greensboro
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro
Lincoln Financial Group
Morrisette Paper Company
Penn National Insurance
Senn Dunn
United Guaranty Corporation
VF Corporation

Leadership Award

Recognizes the campaign with the highest level of participation at the leadership giving level.

Cone Health

Community Impact Award

Recognizes the workplace campaign with gifts given directly to the LIVE UNITED GIVE UNITED campaign which is the most powerful way to invest locally. These companies had an average per capita gift of $1,443, 58% participation, and 99.77% undesignated dollars.

Duke Energy Corporation
Higgins, Benjamin, Eagles & Adams, PLLC
Lincoln Financial Group
Piedmont Natural Gas

Come Back Kid Campaign

The Come Back Kid Campaign award recognizes the workplace campaign with the most significant revitalization of their campaign.

Cone Health

Top 10 Companies

1. Lorillard, Inc. $1,004,155
2. Lincoln Financial Group $630,945
3. Moses Cone Health System $611,843
4. VF Corporation $601,728
5. Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. $341,382
6. UPS $296,939
7. United Guaranty Corporation $285,488
8. Guilford County Schools $249,315
9. Procter & Gamble $236,424
10. Volvo Group of Companies $229,672

CEO Leadership Award

This year United Way of greater Greensboro recognized a CEO who is visible and vocal in his/her involvement and support of United Way.

Murray Kessler – Chairman, President and CEO, Lorillard, Inc.

Outstanding Team Award

Recognizes the team that demonstrates extraordinary leadership, initiative and management of campaign with a high level of organization and creativity.

Large Company (1,000+ employees): Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc.
Mid Size Company (101-999 employees): Novartis Animal Health
Small Company (Up to 100 employees): McGladrey
Non Profit Organization: Greensboro Housing Authority

“Reaching out a hand to influence the condition of ALL” Award

Recognizes companies that create unique opportunities to increase awareness and meet the critical needs in the community.

Bank of America
Beacon Technologies, Inc.
Cone Health
Evonik Stockhausen
News & Record
Scott Insurance
United Guaranty Corporation
Volvo Group of Companies

Employee Campaign Managers Award

Recognizes Campaign Managers who have shown exceptional leadership and commitment to their workplace campaign.

Ruth Edwards – The ARC of Greensboro
Ford Bowers – BB&T
John Buford & Kathryn Whitaker – Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard LLP
Karin Henderson – Cone Health
Chandra White & Tracey Parker – Deluxe Financial Services Customer Center
Kara-Lyn Little & Jim Wooten – Evonik Stockhausen
Natasha Howell – Guilford Child Development
Linda Fitts – Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro
Jeff Busch & Kristine Williams – Kay Ecolab
Leslie Welch – Lorillard, Inc.
Brent Holmes – Procter & Gamble
Linda Jackson & Team – Smith Moore Leatherwood, LLP

“I Would do Anything for United Way” Award

This award recognizes companies that use creative incentives to get staff involved.

Cone Health
Lincoln Financial Group

Engagement Group “Stand-Outs”

This award recognizes individuals for their service to a United Way of Greater Greensboro Engagement group with enthusiasm and dedication.

African American Leadership: Deno Adkins and Regina Howard-Glaspie
Women’s Leadership: Samantha Lyons-Kittrell
Young Leaders: Cindy Edwards

Agencies & Standouts

This year United Way member agencies participated in over 200 company rallies, tours and fairs.

Outstanding United Way Member Agency Speaker of the Year Awards:

Judy West – Adult Center for Enrichment
Jimmi Williams – Communities In Schools
Sabrina Cooke-Davis – Family Life Council, Children’s Home Society of NC
Johnny Vineyard – Family Service of the Piedmont
Linda Fitts – Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro
Jenny Gore – Reading Connections
Marcy Ray – Reading Connections

Outstanding United Way Member Agency Speaker Coordinators of the Year:

Frances Deblois and Diane Spurgeon – Family Service of the Piedmont
Tammy Chaput – Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro
Marcy Ray – Reading Connections

United Way of Greater Greensboro Volunteers of Year
Individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to United Way and has continually gone above and beyond in order to support United Way’s mission.

Tina Akers-Brown
Lucy Kluttz
Cleon Reece
Aaron Strasser
Laurie Weaver

Keith Barsuhn, President and CEO of United Way of Greater Greensboro stated, “The contributions from companies and individuals are extraordinary, greatly appreciated and so very critical at this time. These dollars represent the largest collective source of private sector funds in Greensboro allocated each year to health and human service needs. More lives will be positively changed as a result of this collective impact.” United Way of Greater Greensboro Board of Directors approves funding decisions in May and its fiscal year ends June 30.

United Way funds programs and initiatives that address critical community needs. United Way is committed to Growing Successful Kids, Helping People Help Themselves, and Caring for Everyone’s Health.

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On Thursday, May 17th, United Way of North Carolina and Action for Children are joining forces in Raleigh for a day of advocacy on behalf of important issues facing North Carolinians. There are three key issues that we will be advocating for on that day:

1. Enhancing NC 2-1-1’s state-wide coverage in order to create a system that allows people to efficiently find the services they need
2. Preserving and extending the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as a way to reduce poverty while encouraging self-sufficiency
3. Raising the age for juveniles to be charged with crimes in the adult criminal justice system to 18, so that court-involved minors can receive developmentally appropriate, research-based services and treatments that prepare them for a successful life

As an advocate, you know that it’s important to speak up about issues that matter most to you and your community. The Youth & Family Advocacy Day will include training on these key issues, special guest speakers, and an opportunity to meet with your legislators. Here is the schedule at a glance:

9:30 a.m. Registration
10:00 a.m. Issue Briefing at the Museum of History
11:00 a.m. Rally Event in front of the Museum
Legislative Visits
Gallery Recognition — House/Senate

Will you will be able to join us? Click here to RSVP to United Way of North Carolina.

For more information, contact Anna Hoy at 336-378-6614 or anna.hoy@unitedwaygso.org

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The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world’s largest early childhood education association, with nearly 80,000 members and a network of over 300 local, state, and regional Affiliates.

The purpose of the Week of the Young Child™ is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

NAEYC first established the Week of the Young Child™ in 1971, recognizing that the early childhood years (birth through age 8 ) lay the foundation for children’s success in school and later life. The Week of the Young Child™ is a time to plan how we—as citizens of a community, of a state, and of a nation—will better meet the needs of all young children and their families.

United Way of Greater Greensboro is happy to celebrate this week with thousands of advocates for early childhood development throughout the United States. In Greensboro, United Way has affirmed our community’s priority of investing early to create better opportunities later in life. Thriving at 3 is United Way of Greater Greensboro’s early childhood development initiative which provides direct services to families and convenes the community to promote information sharing and collaboration.

Thriving at 3 will celebrate the Week of The Young Child by hosting a community Lunch-N-Learn on April 25th. Marian F. Earls, MD, FAAP, Pediatrics Medical Director at Triad Adult & Pediatrics Medicine, and Lead author on American Acadmeny of Pediatrics (AAP) Statement on Screening for Post Partum Depression in primary care, and Co Chair, NC IOM Task Force on Early Childhood Mental Health will be the guest speaker for this event. The discussion will be on postpartum depression, toxic stress, and the impact on the infant’s early brain development. Strategies for promotion, prevention, and intervention in the primary care medical home will be described, as well as for community response and resources including activities and special points of interest.

Registration is on a first come first serve basis and will be closed Friday April 20, 2012. For more information, contact Traci McLemore at 336-378-5040 or traci.mclemore@unitedwaygso.org. 

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Be prepared to go all hands-in at this year’s “Great American Clean-up”. The City of Greensboro will come together to make our local community cleaner, greener, safer and more livable! Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization, creates the power of local change through volunteers.

Communities are cleaned, improved and beautified everywhere, from parks and recreation areas to seashores and waterways. Activities range from handling recycling collections, planting trees and flowers and holding educational events to promote living Green. Through the “Great American Clean-up”, citizens in Greensboro will be working to improve our local community’s environment.

Communities are cleaned, improved and beautified everywhere, from parks and recreation areas to seashores and waterways. Activities range from handling recycling collections, planting trees and flowers and holding educational events to promote living Green. Through the “Great American Clean-up”, citizens in Greensboro will be working to improve our local community’s environment. The Young Leaders engagement group will be participating by cleaning up the United Way neighborhood! Young professionals and their families will come together, meeting at the United Way main office (1500 Yanceyville Street) on Saturday, April 21 from 9:00-11:00, followed by a pizza party at Greensboro Beautiful, located at 501 Yanceyville Street  Greensboro, NC 27405 .

For more information about the Great American Clean-Up, please visit http://www.greensborobeautiful.org/cleanups/great_american_cleanup.php

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Image from fineartamerica.com

I once heard a famous orator say, “If a successful person tells you that they got to where they are all by themselves, then they were either delusional or weren’t as smart as they believed themselves to be.” It took a few minutes for me to digest his message and only one minute to decide that I agreed.

I am a product of a village.  A village that included Ms. Kidd, my first grade teacher, who told me on more than one occasion that I was special, that I was gifted and that I had something  to offer this world.  A village that included Mr. Harris, my swim team coach, that told me that “practice equates to perfection”.  A village that included a married couple, that neither knew my name or of my existence on this earth.  Mr. and Mrs.  Le Flore owned the neighborhood candy store, it was there, that I could see them working together each day, their love for each other and that their family unit was strong.  They were an example of what I wished for  myself one day.

All of these people made an undeniable impression in my life.  They are just a few of the MANY mentors  I have had over the years.  Examples of people who cared, cultivated and catapulted my chance for success.  They made a difference in my life.

Will I do the same for someone else?  Will you?  The choice is ours—–become a mentor for a youth in our community.  You just might learn something too!

This post was written by Frank McCain, Vice President of Community Investment for United Way of Greater Greensboro. Frank oversees the division responsible for investing in community programs, including those that “Grow Successful Kids”. United Way is committed to mobilizing mentors to improve the future for disadvantaged youth. For more information on how you can get involved as a mentor, visit unitedwaygso.org/mentor. 

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