The United Way is Making a Difference in Laramie County

The AW duo talks with Tia Fitzgerald, Community Engagement and Marketing Coordinator for United Way of Laramie County, about the many ways in which the non-profit is helping the community.

Transcript

Authentic Wyoming

Episode #33 ~ Tia Fitzgerald, United Way of Laramie County

Original Air Date: October 01, 2024

This transcript was generated automatically using speech-to-text technology. The accuracy may vary in spots.

Hi, I'm Myra, and I'm Tressa. We're fancy marketing people with Union, a Wyoming-based telecommunications company. Yes, Wyoming really does exist, and we proudly serve the Rocky Mountain region. On this podcast, we will feature businesses, organizations, non-profits, and influential people from Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Our mission is to highlight those who inspire their communities daily. We believe this makes us truly authentic because a journey of a thousand miles always begins with a single step.

Myra. It's good. Good to see you. Yeah.
 
 You like the, raspy voice, like Phoebe.
 
 
 It's right. That's right. Yeah. She was licking tissues to keep herself sick. Yeah.
 
 
 You look great. Yeah.
 
 Yeah.
 
 There you go. For the door. Have you done any silence. I know you like to talk. Yeah. Yeah.
 
 Yeah. Right. Yeah.
 
 That's pretty good, Myra. Yeah. I'm impressed.
 
 Good job. I'm proud of you. The Olympics. So how is the, tropical storm going that you're in right now? Is it raining?
 
 Wow.
 
 Yes.
 
 Oh Joan. Like tropical storm. Everybody's in. But I got a dentist appointment. Like.
 Yeah. Yeah.
 
 
 
 You have. If schools are shutting down the lakes. Jobs not. I'm pretty sure the dentist office is probably not going to be open. Just don't.
 
 Yeah.
 
 Oh, Matt.
 
 Yeah.
 
 And how long is this supposed to last through tomorrow. Yeah.
 
 Right. Yeah. School.
 
 So is she. How is she liking school? She's already wanting to get out of school.
 
 Oh.
 
 Okay. Right.
 
 If they have tardiness in kindergarten. Oh. That's funny.
 
 Yeah. That's probably it. Yeah. Repeat and review.
 
 Just follow that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
 
 Yeah. Oh it's new. You know. It'll get better. It's very new.
 
 Yeah. I mean, it's kindergarten, for heaven's sakes. Let's take a breath.
 
 Oh, wow. I feel like unless somebody is hurt, don't let me know. I don't.
 
 It's double-check your information.
 
 Yeah, I could see that. Yeah. Yeah. It worked. You made it.
 Sure. Yeah. Tell me what I want to hear.
 Well, I follow rules. All right, well, should we bring on our guest? That. All right. Thanks for having me. I'm excited. Yeah.
 
 Yeah. So at United Way, we have, 28 nonprofit partners here in Laramie County. So we help fundraise, for those other nonprofits. So we do, a annual, workplace employee campaign. So we go around and talk to different, local businesses and companies and, try to get their employees involved, and give back to the community.
 
 And by giving to United Way, they're supporting these 20 other nonprofits, which is amazing. They definitely get more bang for their buck, as we like to say. But, with the nonprofits, the 20 nonprofits that we support. We also have our own, two in-house initiatives. So we have a community schools initiative. So we are in local title one schools.
 
 Helping teachers and, students and their families, through any struggles they might have, I know. All right. You were just talking about how hard it is. You know, even I'm a parent, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
 
 Yeah. I mean, it can be a struggle. And especially for those families who are low income, they might need even more resources than the typical parent. So, we get them anything that they need, and teachers as well, if they need help, getting their students on a field trip or if they need, extra snacks for the kids in the classroom, you know, even just small things like that.
 
 We try to help with. So. And then we also have our volunteer income tax assistance program. So we have a team of, tax specialists who will, do basically taxes for anybody who's low income, in Laramie County. So, or anybody who's, disabled or, we help out a lot of senior citizens. So anybody who might need help with their taxes.
 
 We do all that, and that's a free service, which is amazing because, you know, doing your taxes can be pretty pricey sometimes. So, yeah. Yeah.
 
 Yeah.
 
 
 
 Yeah, that's a great question. So, we have, every three years they apply. And send in, a grant proposal and, letters of information of what their organization does. And we review that and, decide if it aligns with what we do at United Way. And then right now we actually have them in four different categories.
 
 So we have a healthy community category, youth opportunity. Financial security and, community resiliency. So, we, the nonprofits actually choose which, category they feel that they fit most. Boston. And then they actually determine the funding amongst themselves. So we work with, they you get funding between our funds. And then we also distribute, funds from the city and the county.
 
 So it basically goes into a big pot. And each, each category, each bucket gets a certain allotment, and then they actually decide between themselves, what nonprofit gets what? Which is great because when they're working together, and having those conversations and, it really just encourages that collaboration, which we love.
 
 Thank you.
 
 Yeah, exactly. Yeah. United way is a worldwide organization. There's, you know, two ways everywhere. But each United Way is different and tries to focus on those local issues. You know, issues that we're having in Laramie County or Wyoming in general are going to be different than issues happening even in Colorado or, you know, in another country.
 
 So we really try to focus on what's happening. Here in our own county. You know, for example, housing is an issue here. I know housing is an issue in a lot of places, but that's one of our focuses through habitat for humanity. And homelessness and, just different issues like that that we try to focus on locally.
 
 So, yeah, we, we really like that each United Way gets to kind of customize what they do and who they support.
 
 Not in each county. I believe there's three in Wyoming. So, here in Cheyenne, I know there's one in Casper. And then Laramie. I think those are the three that we have. Yeah.
 Yeah, we definitely try. We can even if, like, if we get a call, from somebody who's not in our area, we will try to find resources for them. Even though they're not in Laramie County. And I know the other United Way's do as well. So two on one is a great resource. I know you guys had Olivia on, so we try to connect.
 
 Since they're statewide, we try to connect people with two and one to find resources all over the state. And just different things like that. So even if they're not in our county, we will try to find resources for them. Yeah.
 
 Well.
 
 Yeah. I mean, I think we're all kind of experiencing similar, issues with food insecurities, homelessness, child abuse, different things like that. I think one of our biggest things right now is, mental health. We are hearing that more and more that's become more and more prevalent. And our partners, we have regular site visits with our partners.
 
 And lately that has been the top issue we're hearing. So, we have recently, got some more, mental health professionals in Laramie County, which is great because that is such a need. And we have very few of those. So the fact that we're expanding with that is amazing. We're really excited. So our partners are now starting to work with that as well, which is amazing.
 
 We don't want yeah, well we don't on staff, but we have, we now have resources in the community that do. I know that health works. Here in Laramie County, now has therapists on staff. We have a great new, counselor in town, called Live Health. And they're a 24 hour crisis center.
 
 So that's been really great. I don't know that any of them are free. But they all have sliding fee scales, which is really great. And then we also provide, they're called single care cards. So they're discount prescription cards. And we give those out like candy. Because we want to help with any sort of, you know, if anybody's on any sort of medication, it helps with medications, too.
 
 So, anything like that, we try to ease any sort of financial burden. Yeah.
 
 Yeah, absolutely.Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's always kind of exciting when, we tell people about these single care cards and we say, you know, there we you can get discounts on your own prescriptions in there, like. Yeah, yeah, we say, and your pet prescriptions, and they're like, oh my God. Yeah, I need that. So yeah. Same.
 
 Yeah. Oh, gosh. I feel like there's so many, Yeah. Well, I think, specifically through the Vida program, our volunteer income tax assistance program. We hear so many great stories from those people coming out of that program. We, had a lady contact us after, her taxes were done, and she was just raving about the volunteers that helped her with her taxes.
 
 She said that she had recently lost her husband. She had just relocated to Laramie County. She was kind of starting all over. Didn't know what to do. Was very lost. And, you know, down. And this was just a huge help, not only financially, but, because she didn't have to go out and find somebody to prepare her taxes for her, and she didn't have to do that herself.
 
 And that was one less thing she had to worry about. She just raved about how much that helped her and, how big she was for that program, which was amazing. Yeah. Yeah. But there's so many, honestly. I mean, it's really it's working for a nonprofit is a lot of work, and it's it's sometimes, you know, it's kind of it's draining.
 
 And but hearing those success stories really just keep you going.
 
 Yeah, it kind of just happened. Prior to United Way, I worked for, the Downtown Development Authority. Our local chamber of commerce and visit Cheyenne. And it's kind of like a a shared position among the three organizations. And, and, there were some, organizational changes. And so, a lot of the staff was kind of up in the air, didn't know what we were doing, and I felt like I needed a change.
 
 And one of my friends said, you know, I was hiring. I think you'd be great for this. And I was like, I don't know. I mean, I'll check it out. I just kind of fell in love with it. And, I've lived in Cheyenne pretty much my whole life, and I just love this community. And I thought, what better way to give back to this community, you know, than working with a nonprofit who will support so many people.
 
 So. A little over a year. So it was a year in July? I think. So, yeah. Yeah
 Yeah. I feel like I'm a little biased because my very first day on the job was, with an event called, the Back to School bash. That, education and, youth opportunity for puts together. And it's just it's amazing. They, put together backpacks full of school supplies. For any child who needs it, there's no, income restrictions.
 
 There's no anything. If you need school supplies, you come get school supplies. And it's not only school supplies. They get coats, they get haircuts, they get physicals, dental checks. They'll get lunch. Pretty much anything you need, to be ready for school to start. That's what they provide. And it's just so fun to see the kids get so excited about the backpacks and their coats.
 
 And, they're just so thrilled. And it's amazing to see that excitement and see so many people. I mean, thousands of kids come through and get backpacks, and it's amazing.
 
 Yeah, that one was just in Cheyenne. I believe that other, this it's hosted at the Boys and Girls Club of Cheyenne. And I believe that other, programs like that do that across the state, but this one is just for, Cheyenne. And it's just it's so much fun to. They have, like, a deejay and, it's just a really great time.
 
 Honestly. Yeah. Yes, yes.
 
 Yeah, we do. Yeah. We just. Our lights just went up, so that's fun. Like, I don't know what's happening. I know right from all the way up. Okay. So on our website, it's, United Way of Laramie County board. There is a section where, folks can, sign up for volunteer opportunities. And we have so many different areas that people can, help with volunteering.
 
 If they want to, if they have any tax experience and they want to help with the wider program, they can help with that. We have a community investment review panel. And that's the group that goes, to the site visits and, make sure the partners are, doing okay and checking in on, things like that.
 
 So that's a really great group. If people just want to volunteer to help us with any events that we have or any events that our partners might have, that's a really great opportunity too. So, yeah, we always have things to volunteer for. So there's lots of lots of things on there. Yeah. Always doing something.
 
 Definitely funding. We've definitely seen, donations. Kind of take a dip over the last few years, I think after Covid. It's just kind of been a struggle, and I totally understand why, you know? I mean, everything is more expensive now. You go to the grocery store and spend double what you were spending before. And so I think it's hard for people to justify giving a donation to a nonprofit when they're struggling to, you know, buy groceries.
 
 And we just say, you know, everybody's struggling. So if you're struggling, then these then, you know, these nonprofit organizations and lower income individuals and families are struggling even more. So it's we have to just all band together, and help each other out.
 
 Yeah, exactly.
 
 Yeah, absolutely.
 
 Yeah. Yeah. So, we are really excited. There is a, a, event that happens in Cheyenne. Every fall and winter, it's called Thankful Thursday. So this group chooses a nonprofit every Thursday, to support. And the nonprofit comes out and, you know, has raffle items or auction items, all kinds of different games, things like that, to help raise money.
 
 So we have a Thankful Thursday coming up on October 17th. And it's our first one ever. So we're really excited. There's like a long waiting list of nonprofits in Cheyenne, to try to get a thankful Thursday. So we're really excited, to finally have made it to the top of the list. So it's a lot of work, but it's we're really excited.
 
 Yeah.
 
 I think the only other thing is, you know, besides, you know, if you can't do a workplace campaign or you can't volunteer, you know, things like that. I think just, getting the word out to people about us and these other organizations is really helpful. Sometimes you don't know about these organizations until you actually need them or you know, somebody who is using them.
 
 
 
 And so I think just getting the word out about these organizations is really important. And just spreading the word about all the amazing resources that we have to help.
 
 Oh, you know, I do a lot of the self-care. So I try to, you know, I take morning walks with my dog every morning. And I try to just, like, decompress and unwind and, just try to keep my head clear and. Yeah, do a lot of yoga.
 
 Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
 
 Thank you so much for having me. Yeah.