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PILTRO hosts meet-and-greet with United Way, Beacon of HOPE, others

By Staff | Sep 15, 2009

Marianne Paton United Way Vice President of Allocation and Planning Greg Garner explains to members of PILTRO and island clergy how the United Way House program could work on Pine Island.

Representatives from the Pine Island Long Term Recovery Organization (PILTRO), Beacon of HOPE and island clergy met with representatives from the Lee County Chapter of the United Way to explore new ways to help the island community.

Conversation centered around the needs of the island community relying on data collected by the recent Pine Island Cares event organized by PILTRO. In response, United Way board member, Bruce Schultz, introduced the group to the concept of the United Way House.

“I couldn’t be happier than to be on Pine Island and it is our goal to make this a better community,” said Schultz. “There are 71 agencies in Lee County providing services and, when the community takes ownership of their United Way House, they are able to tell us what they need and we will work with these agencies to take care of them.”

Schultz is the president of Southwest Capital Bank and has been involved with United Way for more than seven years.

According to information provided by United Way Vice President of Allocations and Planning, Greg Garner, the long-term goal of the United Way House program is to have successful, self-sufficient neighborhood Resource Houses that are led by an agency or association committed to helping their neighborhood. The first priority is to continue to build relationships among all program partners including the United Way, city and county government, community groups, residents, businesses and non-profit and faith-based organizations to meet the needs of the community.

The following is an outline of how the United Way House program works for the community:

Purpose for the House:

— To help neighborhood families access services in a friendly and culturally appropriate way.

— Create resident/neighborhood driven programming.

— Increase services for residents of economically challenged neighborhoods through collaborations and leveraging of resources.

Minimum functions of a United Way House (lead agency responsibility)

— Neighborhood specific programming driven through a needs assessment process.

— Client intake, assessment and tracking system for all programs utilizing the United Way House.

— State ACCESS program availability

— Collaborations with other agencies/partners to meet neighborhood needs.

— Physical space available for partners who collaborate to meet community needs.

— VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program availability.

— Co-marketing/branding of the United Way House highlighting all the partners.

— Strong partnership with the United Way 211 program.

— Report on activity of the House on an annual basis.

Expected Results:

— All partners are recognized as part of the solution(s) offered at the House.

According to Garner, the only way the United House can operate successfully is if it is embraced by the entire community and each House must specifically address the needs of that community.

“In Labelle, the United Way House was established to help kids get ready for school, but could not find a central location so they bought a house to operate out of. This is where the House concept began and has been very successful in 13 Lee County communities,” Garner said. “Your house is going to be a place the community could come into for services and we have found that within a year, the whole community has embraced the idea. The most important thing we at the United Way has learned is to get the necessary agencies together and then get out of the way.”

Garner also stated that the function of the United Way in this particular capacity is to listen to those who oversee operations at the United Way House and to act as the liaison between the volunteers of the Pine Island United Way House and service and governmental organizations throughout the county.

Some of the agencies who currently partner with the United Way of Lee County are Abuse Counseling and Treatment (ACT) Lee County Red Cross, Good Wheels, Goodwill Industries, Lee County Legal Aid Society, Partners for Breast Cancer Care, the Salvation Army, Visually Impaired Persons of Southwest Florida and more.