Our Mission
It’s a credo. A mission. A goal. A constant reminder that when we reach out a hand to one, we influence the condition of all. We build the strength of our neighborhoods. United, we work in partnership with a variety of organizations to create a community of resources for all.
Our Goals
In 2008, United Way Worldwide initiated a 10-year program designed to achieve the following goals by 2018:
Improve education, and cut the number of high school dropouts — 1.2 million students, every year — in half.
Help people achieve financial stability, and get 1.9 million working families — half the number of lower-income families who are financially unstable — on the road to economic independence.
Promote healthy lives, and increase by one-third the number of youth and adults who are healthy and avoid risky behaviors.
These goals are ambitious, but with your help, and by utilizing our core strengths — a national network, committed partners and public engagement capacity — we can achieve them.
History
In 1959, the United Fund of Wilson County was organized at a meeting in the Cherry Hotel. The goal for this initial fundraising effort was set at $79,568.30. Today the organization we now call United Way raises more than one-million dollars annually to fund human service agencies for the people of Wilson County.
Far from being just a once-a-year presence, United Way is an integral part of the community it serves. Each member agency’s program is a part of a total health, welfare, and character building program designed to meet the needs of the community. Because of this fact, United Way has a responsibility to consider the community program as a whole and each agency’s relation to the total program.
United Way helps people help themselves and one another by uniting the community’s volunteer fundraising efforts in a manner that builds a strong spirit of community volunteerism; responds to needs that can’t be met through public expenditures; is accountable to the giver and the receiver for dollars and programs; operates in a cost effective manner.