Why St. Louis Needs United Way Now More Than Ever

The idea of this podcast is moving St. Louis forward.

We're not going to knock us for something we didn't do 25 years.

And so I thought it was really important to have you guys here and have the United Way here for, like you said, how many people... that we touch in our region, but also how do you move St. Louis fast forward? And so that's the idea.

So, Michelle, going back to just a novice listener that has always heard of the United Way, and I used to be on the board of Jewish Federation, and, you know, the United Way was born out of the system that the Jewish Federation did of instead of asking people for the same gift, is bringing in the money and then you guys kind of sending it out.

So can you give me...

Like a one minute, if I asked you for an elevator pitch, like, you know, how many people, how many, you said you already gave me some of these numbers, but just like, it's vast in what you do.

So can you give us a quick overview and then we'll jump in a little bit?

Well, you know, when you say it's vast, the only way that we can do this is the pool community coming together to help us to accomplish what we accomplished.

So like I said earlier, we're helping one in three people and that's across Illinois and Missouri, right? We have the MSA here.

And we are supporting over 150 nonprofit agencies across the region.

And those agencies are key to making certain we're able to provide the support to people that they need, especially during difficult times.

So it can be an everyday crisis.

Or it can be something as devastating as the storm that we saw last year, right? But after every devastation, whether small or large, United Way is there with resources to provide.

So through those agencies, again, we're able to provide wraparound support to people who need it.

And then we also managed the 211 referral line.

I don't know if you knew that.

I know that.

And I've actually given that number to people.

Have you? And I thank you for doing that.

Sometimes people don't know where to go.

They don't.

They don't.

And that is why 211 is in place.

And I'll give you a fun fact.

It's not so fun, though.