Thu Sep 09 2010
Editor's note: This is the second of four articles dealing with the community impact areas United Way of Defiance County is helping through its current fund-raising campaign.
By LISA NICELY
Empowering Families & Individuals is just one way to make a community strong not only today, but in the future as well.
That's one of the reasons that United Way of Defiance County has chosen Empowering Families & Individuals as one of the four community impact areas its partner agencies provide.
The United Way campaign, with a goal of $370,000, is underway. Money raised will go to fund 41 programs that partner agencies provide to county residents.
Money raised during the campaign will help agencies in four community impact areas: Empowering Families & Individuals, Helping Our Kids Grow, Managing Health & Well-Being, and Caring for People in Crisis.
The goal of Empowering Families & Individuals is to strengthen families to achieve greater self-sufficiency and to help develop healthy habits.
Among the programs United Way helps fund that benefit the community in this area are a crib and car seat incentives program by Community Pregnancy Center, It Takes Two program by Four County Family Center, low/moderate income homeownership by Habitat for Humanity of Defiance County, PROMISE program by the Kidney Foundation, legal services by Legal Aid of Western Ohio, counseling and Latina prenatal outreach program by Lutheran Social Services, senior volunteer program through RSVP and the YMCA scholarship and second shift childcare at the YMCA.
"We are educating a lot of people through this program," Judy Van Wagner, executive director of Community Pregnancy Centers, said of the crib and car seat incentives program.
Originally, individuals needing cribs and car seats could just pick them up at the center, but center officials then decided that individuals who receive the items should learn about issues such as parenting and budgeting and taking care of themselves during pregnancy.
Van Wagner said the center's three locations have adopted the Earn While You Learn program, which allows individuals to earn points to get the cribs and car seats.
"We have found that in making the girls come to these classes in order to earn cribs and car seats that they are so appreciative of the classes," she said. "Some, after they earn what they came for, want to come back and do more classes because they are so helpful to them for learning how to be parents."
While many of these programs are well known throughout the community, such as scouting, others are not.
"The It Takes Two program focuses on fathers," said Carrie Wetstein, United Way executive director. "It helps them working on their parenting skills such as being a positive role model in a child's life as well as helping physically and financially. It gives a hands-on approach that works on career planning, development, basic parenting and general case management."
Kathy Short, director of the Four County Family Center, said many people have taken part in the program over the years. The group works in collaboration with the Defiance County Child Enforcement Agency.
"This last quarter we served 36 noncustodial parents," said Short. "We've been around in Defiance County the last nine years. It was one of the first counties we started the program in.
"We have been quite successful working with the parents, mainly fathers but sometimes noncustodial parents. We help them find a job and then maintain employment so they can pay child support and help support their child. We also help with their parenting skills and advocate them on what their rights are to make sure they are having access to their child."
Another program some residents may not know much about is the PROMISE program -- Providing Resources and Opportunities to Maximize Independence through Service Endeavors. The program provides financial assistance, specifically for transportation and medication, to those with kidney disease and related disorders.
For more information about United Way or to donate to the campaign, call 419-782-3510.
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