Special to Iredell Free News
MOORESVILLE — United Way of Iredell County and United Way of Central Carolinas on Thursday announced a new approach to serving the people of Iredell County – Unite Iredell.
In March of 2020, United Way of Iredell County, United Way of Central Carolinas and the Iredell County Community Foundation partnered together to establish the Iredell County COVID-19 Response Fund. The partnership created a powerful tool to serve the people of Iredell County during this difficult period.
“Together these partners were able to invest over $2 million into the work of 45 local nonprofit and service organizations,” said Marian Clark, who served as the founding chair for the effort. “These funds had a big impact supporting our friends and neighbors in need over the last two years. We learned from this partnership the power of operating at multiple geographic levels in the fulfillment of our mission.”
The success of this approach to serving families, children and communities during the pandemic has received national attention and recognition.
This partnership also sparked ongoing discussions about how best United Way can continue to serve Iredell County. For many decades there have been multiple United Way campaigns in Iredell County, each governed independently and working to meet the needs of our specific communities.
This fall will mark the first time that one United Way will serve the entire county.
“There is increasing evidence supporting the positive impact of neighborhood-level interventions and the success of families. Shifting responsibilities fully onto the local United Way staff and board will allow us to continue partnering at a multi-county level and will also put more resources on the ground for neighborhood level work,” said Laura Yates Clark, president & CEO of United Way of Central Carolinas.
This transition was celebrated Thursday as United Way of Iredell County cut the ribbon for a new office in downtown Mooresville. This office will pair with their current location in downtown Statesville and house the combined staff charged with covering the full county.
“From a community member’s perspective, you should expect to see a wider network of local agency partners receiving United Way support, more boots on the ground across the county, a wider array of opportunities to engage as a volunteer and advocate, and more collaborative and creative partnerships between mission driven organizations.” said Brett Eckerman, executive director of United Way of Iredell County. “As it always has been, the decisions about how our United Way serves our community will be made by local volunteers. We hope that you will follow along as we unveil more about our efforts to ‘Unite Iredell.’ ”
LEARN MORE
Please visit www.uniteiredell.org to learn more about this new effort and your United Way.
About United Way of Iredell County
United Way of Iredell County fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in our community. The agency partners with 24 local non-profit partners through its annual campaign, and many other local groups and initiatives year-round to achieve this goal. More information is available at www.uwiredell.org.