Beep, beep! United Way’s Bus Tours are Rounding Out the Summer

If you haven’t had a chance to hop aboard the First United Methodist Bus driven by our very own favorite Executive Director, Naomi Asher, you still have two more chances to climb aboard and hear about how United Way of Anderson County has impacted our community in our focus areas of Youth Development, Self-Sufficiency, and Senior & Health Services.

Today, we were amazed by the stories of non-profits who, when hit by the pandemic, stepped up to the challenge and innovated their methods of delivery, deepened their reach in our community, and met even more needs than before 2020.

We started our day with coffee and donuts at United Way Headquarters, where we heard from YWCA and ETHRA. Hannah Brinson of the YWCA shared with us about the forthcoming GameChangers program, an incredible education program for middle school boys that transforms them from bystanders to active upstanders against gender-based violence.  It is a program that has had marvelous success in Knox County Schools and it’s coming to Anderson County this January! Students work with mentors through an intentional curriculum and become GameChangers in the fight to end violence against women and girls, and is the only program of its kind for middle school boys.

Next, we heard from ETHRA, which has made incredible strides despite the pandemic, still delivering meals to families in need and working actively to solve the transportation issue in our area by ensuring that all those who need a ride can easily receive one.

Then, we hopped on the bus to our first pit stop: Senior Citizens Home Assistance Service, Inc. (SCHAS). SCHAS provides homemaker and personal care services to elderly and disabled persons, so they can remain in their own homes for as long as possible. When the lockdowns of March 2020 hit, SCHAS stepped up and made sure that our elderly populations had groceries by taking phone orders weekly and shopping for our most vulnerable residents. They also ensured that residents could contact families (since many of our older residents do not have smartphones) by allowing the homemakers to Facetime relatives, who often lived far away in different states.  SCHAS also allowed for the elderly to gain access to many supplies they had been living without, in some cases for years, like adult diapers, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, and bath soap. They have been restoring dignity through their homemaker services in some beautiful ways over this past year.

At this stop, we were also privileged to hear from Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, an organization that carefully matches children from challenged families with carefully screened adults for one-to-one goal oriented friendships. This organization was also able to continue in powerful ways during the pandemic, due to technology. Mentors were able to speak with students regularly through one of the toughest seasons of their often already-difficult lives, thanks to texting and FaceTime. And since these relationships were already established pre-COVID, they were able to ensure that families had the support they needed in these trying times. Another amazing innovation of BBBS was their Community Needs Assessment. They made over 1,500 phone calls to all of the families they have served in the last 3 years and ensured they had the help they needed, connecting them with services or other help.

Next, we visited the ADFAC School Supply Closet, which is serving all the schools in our surrounding areas. They are packing backpacks with the exact supplies that teachers request for all of our elementary, middle, and high schools. Just being in that room full of brand new beautiful school supplies made this former teacher happy. And the amazing “Supply Sisters,” Becky and Theresa, are so dedicated to their work that they often shop sales in the wee hours of the night!

Our final stop was the Anderson County Family Justice Center Grand Opening! They are an amazing organization that partner with others to meet the needs of families in Anderson County who are in crisis. They are all about breaking cycles of violence to ensure families can thrive. We got a tour from Executive Director, Melissa Miller, who showed us the calming intake rooms and all the areas where wraparound service staff will help contribute to the important work of ensuring families can live their best lives in Anderson County.

It was another amazing day with several of our 38 partner agencies, and I’m bowled over at the depth and breadth of the impact of United Way dollars. If you want to see the work of our partners, it’s not too late to hop aboard a bus tour yourself!

But don’t worry, you still have two more bus tours to book before the summer’s out! Let us know if you want in on the next two, on July 21st or 29th!