by SARAH THOMACKSt. Joseph Post Giving locally on Giving Tuesday can help several agencies in St. Joseph help others in need year round. St. Joseph United Way Campaign Director Renita Neville says Giving Tuesday is a nationwide effort to encourage people to give back. “We’ve just come off of Thanksgiving, we’re starting the holiday shopping season and the goal is to kind of have people redirect and think about what’s important in life and to give back and to kind of focus those efforts for one day out of the year.” Neville says anyone who donates to United Way can support a variety of local agencies which focus on education, health or financial stability. “A donation could support something like quality childcare for working parents in our community, it could look like work for individuals with developmental disabilities through supported employment at UCP or through sheltered employment through Specialty Industries,” Neville says. “It might look like a safe place to stay and start over for a woman and her children that have left a domestic violence situation… lots of different ways that the money donated to United Way is used to support a wide variety of needs in our community.” The United Way of Greater St. Joseph partners with 17 local agencies. For more information or to donate, go to <a href="http://www.stjosephunitedway.org/">stjosephunitedway.org</a>.

Giving locally on Giving Tuesday supports community efforts year round