United Way of Monroe County held its Annual Meeting and Report to the Community on Thursday morning, June 28th at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort to a room full of volunteers and supporters.

Growth and Progress

United Way announced 20% growth in revenue over last year, enabling the organization to invest significantly more in both direct community services and services implemented through partner agencies.

“More importantly, this growth, our program investments, and our collective approach – it is enabling us all to make a real impact in our community,” said President and CEO for United Way of Monroe County, Michael Albert. “We are beginning to see that by working together, we can address some of our community’s problems that cannot be solved by any single individual or organization.”

United Way highlighted their work and partnerships that all focus on addressing poverty in Monroe County. The work falls across four core areas of service: hunger, child care and development, homelessness, and information and referral services. With 24 funded partners working closely with United Way on these initiatives, United Way highlighted some recent progress made in addressing these complex problems:

• increased access to nutritious foods among low-income families struggling to make ends meet, including doubling the number of healthy meals served to children in need during summer months, as compared to last year;
• increased access to high-quality child care services; and
• a new coordinated response to addressing homelessness through a coordinated entry system, that enables the community to prioritize and streamline homeless services.

United Way also presented this year’s Community Investment Report, showing the investments our community is making to continue to make progress in United Way’s fight against poverty.

Recognition and Thanks

During this meeting United Way also presented several community awards, including their President’s Award, to outgoing board member, Pamela Watkins, for her many years of service to the organization. United Way also presented its Volunteer of the Year award to Board Chair, Richard Schlameuss, and Partner of the Year award to both The Growing Place Child Care Centers, and the Stroudsburg Area School District for their joint efforts in trying to fill critical gaps in Pre-K services for low-income children in Stroudsburg.

In partnership with the Mattioli Foundation, United Way also presented one of their most prestigious awards, the Dr. Joseph and Dr. Rose Mattioli Philanthropy Award, to Pat Ross, recognizing his outstanding philanthropic work in uniting people and improving lives in Monroe County.