Help with Our ‘New Normal

TERRI LEGG

Executive Director United Way Montcalm - Ionia Counties

You can help create a “new normal”

The coronavirus has severely interrupted our lives in a way that will have long-term effects on our community. Teachers and students have been forced out of their classrooms, unemployment is soaring to record levels and our community’s health is at risk. When I think about the potential of businesses going back to work again over the coming weeks, I can’t help but think that I do not want things to go back to normal. But what is “normal” anyway? Before the coronavirus and before shelteringin-place, normal meant that nearly 50 percent of Montcalm and Ionia counties were made up of ALICE households (Asset – Limited, Income- Constrained, Employed) that were already struggling to make ends meet. Normal meant that we have a lack of affordable housing. Normal meant that quality daycare is often not available to many of our families. Normal meant that we have an invisible homeless population that is going to bed in a tent or in their car. I hear people saying things like, “When it goes back to normal…” I challenge everyone to think about what the “new” normal could look like and what we can do to help create a new normal where 50 percent of our local community is not struggling to make ends meet. Don’t get me wrong, I cannot wait to spend time with family and friends to ring in the New Year. As we begin to think about that, and resolutions, and what the future holds, and we begin to learn, work, and reconnect with friends and family, we need to learn to invest and support each other differently than we did before. Nonprofits play a vital role in the success of a community. Charitable organizations represent the best of a community – the best of America. Every single day America’s more than 1.3 million nonprofits help to feed, shelter, educate, support, encourage, inspire, heal and nurture people of every demographic and socio-economic status. Nonprofits help to create a more equitable and thriving community. Nonprofits are there when others are not, and often go unrecognized for the work that they do. They are the unsung heroes that are working behind the scenes. Every dollar donated to a nonprofit makes a huge impact. No donation is too small - $1 helps to feed a family of four one meal. The equivalent of a $5 cup of coffee feeds that family 25 meals. Whatever the cause, by donating today you are helping to make a better tomorrow. We join nonprofits across the county in a global day of giving and unity on #GivingTuesday. We hope that you will envision a new normal with us by donating to your favorite nonprofit. I encourage you to consider what a new normal looks like. I encourage you to embrace giving through a monetary gift, donating goods, donating time, paying it forward, or being a handraiser to create change. If you have stayed home and continue to wear a mask when you go out, we thank you. Together, UNITED, we will get through this.

HOW TO DONATE

Have you wanted donate to a local nonprofit, but thought you couldn’t afford to? Or that what you could give wasn’t enough to make difference? Here are some interesting facts from the United Way Montcalm - Ionia Counties annual campaigns that might make you think twice:

• The average gift per capita for United Way through local workplace campaigns is $3.21 per pay period.

• Donations range from as little as 50 cents per pay period to personal yearly gifts of $5,000 per donation.

• This year, the local COVID

Crisis Fund received corporate gifts ranging from $100 to a $60,000 gift from

CARGILL to help address the most urgent and emerging needs.

• Nearly 80 percent of donations to our local United

Way comes from ALICE households. (See ALICE definition in the adjacent column.)