By: Liz Ludwick and Damon Elmore—
Muncie, IN—Six weeks.
That’s how much time we have to reach our $1.5 million goal in the 2019 fundraising campaign for Delaware County’s United Way.
We’re aren’t quite there. We need your help.
Because of the work of your United Way, there are nearly 1,000 children in Delaware County receiving books as part of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that provides children ages newborn to 5 years old with a free, high-quality book every month. And, those books have been paired with educational and entertaining videos.
We’re serving more children with more books than ever. We’re putting resources in the hands of parents and we have volunteers who are the mentors in a child’s life, filling the gap where they can.
We’re making significant progress toward our bold goal of ending generational poverty by addressing reading readiness among third-graders.
But there’s more work to be done.
Here’s what we know. Nearly half of Delaware County lives in poverty or is one crisis away from it – making daily choices between food, kids, cars, the house, etc. Another report shows more children in Delaware County live in poverty than any other county in the state.
Six weeks.
Generational poverty weighs like shackles on our community. It keeps us from the prosperity we want for the next generation who are your children, and grandchildren. Research tells us third-grade reading readiness is the single best predictor of a person’s and a community’s future, but our kids in low-income households are not achieving like they need to. In fact, 80 percent of children in these homes are reading below grade-level, and they are 13 times more likely to not finish high school.
By addressing grade-level reading readiness, we tackle generational poverty. Our goal is for all third graders by 2024 to be able to read at grade-level. This single driver can end the generational poverty cycle and change the trajectory of our community. It puts us on the right path.
Six weeks.
Too many have struggled for too long already. They say timing is everything. We believe the time is right. Right now. Today. We need your help. Go here to donate. Thank you.
Liz Ludwick and Damon Elmore are the co-chairs of the 2019 fundraising campaign for United Way of Delaware and Henry Counties. Both work for Muncie Power Products.
About United Way of Delaware and Henry Counties
United Way fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in every community. Supported by 2.9 million volunteers, 9.8 million donors worldwide and $4.7 billion raised every year, United Way is the world’s largest privately-funded non-profit. We’re engaged in 1,800 communities across more than 40 countries and territories worldwide to create sustainable solutions to the challenges facing our communities. United Way partners include global, national and local businesses, non-profits, government, civic and faith-based organizations, along with educators, labor leaders, health providers, senior citizens, students and more. For more information about United Way of Delaware and Henry Counties, please visit InvitedToLiveUnited.Org. Follow us on Twitter: @LiveUnitedDHC and #LiveUnited.
