By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The United Way of Greater St. Joseph is looking ahead to 2022 after battling through challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic the last two years.
United Way President Kylee Strough says volunteers and partner agencies of the United Way faced challenges, such as not being able to meet with people face-to-face to raise money, and even having to shut down certain programs.
But, Strough says despite all those challenges that the agency faced, there was one big lesson that was learned.
"All those things showed that we were able to adapt, and heaven forbid I use that overused word pivot, but pivot to still meet the need," Strough tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "But we knew that while we were meeting the need, it could have been done better if we weren't in the midst of a pandemic."
Strough says there were some other silver linings for the United Way as well, such as learning how to do things more efficiently.
Strough says the biggest success is that it was able to survive.
"We're all still standing, so that is the success story," Strough says. "You know, we're all still here, we're all still delivering, but it's been really trying over time."
Strough says as a leader she had to learn how to not only balance the needs of those they serve others, while also protecting her employees and staff, while still trying to meet those needs.
The United Way of Greater St. Joseph is focusing on its goals for 2022 as it works through the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic that have plagued it for the last two years.
Strough says one big focus this year for the agency is working to help everyone get involved, even those in the community outside of the United Way.
"They might not be social workers, they might not be mental health clinicians, they might not be childcare providers, but people in our community care about one another, they want to do good, and they want to help, " Strough says. "How can we create avenues for them to be engaged in making our community better, because we all live here, let's make it the very best it can be."
Strough says one other thing that is coming in 2022 for the United Way is a brand-new website to make it easier for people to learn about them and get engaged with them.
United way of Greater St. Joseph held its annual report meeting last week, you can see the 2021 annual report HERE.