United Way of the Bay Area Blog
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Melissa Thomas is a 21-year old San Franciscan who has been looking for work for more than two years. She’s on public assistance and says she could easily fall into homelessness. At the end of the month, she has no food in the fridge, and depends on an elderly relative to eat. Melissa wants nothing [...]
Domestic violence in the home creates deep wounds in children which can prevent them from succeeding in school and in life. Fortunately for Jenna*, a young victim of domestic violence, help was readily available at Belle Haven Community School, and her healing process was able to begin. Thirteen-year-old Jenna lived with domestic violence throughout much [...]
We’ve all wished we had a newer, better car at one point in our lives. But for Andrea Keeling, it was a crisis. Her van was so old that she couldn’t start it with a key. When she wanted to use it, Andrea had to jack up the hood and risk being shocked to turn [...]
Bob Hope once said, “You know you are getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.” This year, United Way of the Bay Area has 90 candles on the cake, and we’re happy we’re getting older because with age, we can build on experience. Throughout its history, United Way has been a philanthropic [...]
United Way Vice-President, Tse Ming Tam grew up in abject poverty. He and his five brothers and sisters scrounged around restaurant alleys for food, and Tse Ming was functionally illiterate through age 25. His personal struggles have informed his life work, combatting poverty in the Bay Area. And it is because of his visionary work [...]
It’s 2/11, and it’s National 211 Day! Today, we recognize the 185,000 people who called United Way of the Bay Area’s 211 last year for help. Sonya, 66, was one of them. Sonya called 211 crying. Her husband who had been in the armed forces passed away after 41 years of marriage. Rather than paying [...]
East Bay Congresswoman Barbara Lee beamed with pride at United Way’s SparkPoint Oakland grand re-opening: “Good things are happening here in Oakland! People across the country ask me about economic empowerment and how to move people out of poverty. I’m proud of the fact that we’re doing that here. SparkPoint is paving the way to [...]
Last December, Laverne Oakley had to tell her youngest son that there weren’t going to be any Christmas presents. Her son thought Santa was mad at him for being a naughty boy. For her older son, Laverne was having trouble piecing together bus fare at the end of the month to get him to school [...]
Fresh vegetables. Canned goods. Spices. Ingredients for a Thanksgiving table and some of the items San Francisco Food Bank volunteers sorted during United Way’s Week of Caring. Perhaps one of the most popular ways to volunteer in our community is to work at a soup kitchen or food bank. There’s something so rewarding about the [...]
If you have a pulse, then you know that November 6th is the election! We’ve been talking about it, hearing about it in the news, and watching the candidates for months now, and it will all come down to a single day that will alter the course of history. That’s what’s at stake. The election’s [...]
