Lunenburg County is a great place to work, live and raise a family. Economic numbers are looking up, new businesses are moving into the area, and our many municipal governments are moving forward on projects that are important to their residents and the county. The worst of the recession seems to be behind us and we live in a community that has a lifestyle that is second to none. This is a great place to live if you’re healthy, employed, have a decent paying job and a strong loving family.
But what if you’re working at a minimum wage job with no benefits, or have children with learning or physical disabilities, are recently laid off or have an addiction or mental health problem? What if you’re a senior with few friends or no family, are the child of a dysfunctional or broken family or a member of the working walking poor? What happens if you have a strong rural community but little infrastructure to sustain it? Life isn’t so easy.
Like it or not, these problems are our problems. They put a strain on our limited resources, reduce productivity and limit our ability to hire reliable and competent employees.
With governments at all levels grappling with high debt and budget deficits, the ability to access funding to address these problems is already greatly reduced. As a community we can wait for something to happen or we can make it happen. Let’s choose to make things happen.
This year, with the generous support of our donors the United Way of Lunenburg County has invested $169,684 in 26 local community organizations and programs. This brings our funding total to over $1,200,000 since our inception in 2003.
These are investments that are good for the community and good for business. By providing new opportunities to kids, youth, families, seniors and rural communities, we help strengthen our communities, people, families and ourselves.
Let’s be clear; these community investments are not handouts but hand ups. We can and should do more and with your help we can. Please consider working together and with us so that can help make Lunenburg County a great place to live, work and play for all.
But none of it can happen without funding, and that’s why we need and count on the support of the community. We raise money through individual donations, corporate donations and an extremely efficient payroll deduction program. This payroll deduction program requires us working with our local business community who help participating employees to have a small amount of money taken off their paycheck, this small amount of money combined with that of many others has the potential to make a big financial difference in our community. For example, if every single working person in Lunenburg County contributed just $1 week to the United Way of Lunenburg County we would raise over $1.1 million dollars each and every year, because this is money raised by the United Way it has to stay in Lunenburg County. We can’t send it to Halifax, Ottawa or anywhere else. This makes the United Way one of the best investments that you can make in your community.
We would like the opportunity to come to your workplace and talk about how together we can make a meaningful and measurable difference right here in Lunenburg County.
If you have any questions or require additional information please do not hesitate to ask. I can be reached at 530-3072 (voice mail), 527-2381 or via e-mail at office@lunenburgcounty.unitedway.ca
