Your community needs you to step up

It's no secret that philanthropic gifts are down, layoffs continue and organizations like Elk Grove's Kenneth Young Center struggle to serve more people in need with fewer resources.

Northwest Suburban United Way is no exception. The burden of this economic climate and state budget cuts has forced us to reduce our own staff by nearly 20 percent and salaries for remaining employees by 10 percent. The critical funding we provide to health and wellness agencies like KYC had to be cut by more than 50 percent across the board.

The Kenneth Young Center is just one of 45 organizations in the Northwest suburbs navigating new ways to support people in need as resources become even more limited. We echo KYC CEO Mitch Bruski's call that individual donations at any level can and do make a difference.

With nearly half of our community partners depending on severely delayed payments from the state, the battle for funding has just begun.

The United Way has fought tirelessly to protect the funding for the health and human services sector. While we are Illinois' second largest funder of the nonprofit sector, the gap between our funding ability and the state's is drastic.

As these past few months have shown, we can no longer rely on our government to protect those that need our services most. We at Northwest Suburban United Way are committed to exploring and creating new, innovative ways to bring resources to our community, however, individual giving is more crucial today than ever before.

Today, we are asking our community to join us in our fight to protect those that need us most. If you can open your wallet, advocate on our behalf or volunteer an hour of your day, you can change your community.

Marcia McMahon

Chief Professional Officer

Northwest Suburban United Way