Reprinted with permission from The Sanford Herald
Published May 9, 2009, page 6A

   This week, we Take 5 with Jan Hayes, the director of the Lee County United Way, about the organization's campaign and its upcoming "Compassion'09" roundtable event.
   Hayes, a native of Hamlet, has been the executive director of the United Way since 2006. A former chairman of the Lee County Board of Education, she received degrees from both Peace College and Meredith College — from the latter, a bachelors degree in sociology and social work — before earning her masters in liberal arts from N.C. State University in 2006.
   In addition to serving on the board of education, Hayes is a trustee of Central Carolina Community College and a member of the Lee County YMCA board of directors. She and her husband, Charles Hayes — who works as the president and CEO of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership — have three children and two grandchildren.
   The Hayeses are members of St. Luke United Methodist Church.

   Q. First things first: How is the United Way's current campaign going?
   A. Well, it’s certainly not what we had hoped. On the other hand, given how many families are struggling to make ends meet in this economy, it may not be as bad as we feared. As you can imagine, charitable contributions are down everywhere — significantly and across the board.
   As of early May, we’ve raised at least $382,000 and possibly much more. We’re still waiting to hear from corporate headquarters for a few companies participating in the campaign last fall, and we don’t even have a very good estimate yet about those contributions. Our goal was $502,009 — which was a half-million dollars plus $2,009 to represent the year. That means we’ve raised about 76 percent of what we hoped, with more contributions to come.
   The good news is that we’re not quite finished yet. We have the big push each fall, and that’s when most of the contributions come in, particularly from business and industry. But technically, we still have a few weeks before this year’s campaign closes for good, and there are some signs that the economy may be recovering a bit.
   So, anyone who wants to contribute toward the 2009 campaign can still do it. We have 25 volunteers working right now, deciding how to invest the contributions, and I’m absolutely certain they’ll be thrilled to have more money to invest!

   Q. If giving’s down in an economy like this, are needs rising at the same time?
   A. It sure looks that way. We’re hearing from plenty of local ministries and social service agencies that are working hard to keep pace.
   I’ll give you an example. The Salvation Army’s been doing its wonderful Angel Tree project for years, where people buy Christmas presents for children who might not get anything at all. This past Christmas, they had requests to help 800 children. That was almost twice the number from the year before.
   But those are just vignettes. The best statistics we have come from North Carolina 211, which is a phone number people can call when they need some kind of assistance. During the first three months of last year, we received 74 calls for help in Lee County. Over the same period this year, we had 192 calls, almost three times as many.
   Figuring out exactly what that means isn’t so straightforward, because the service is relatively new here and more people are finding out about it. But the statewide numbers almost doubled, so it’s clear more a lot more people are looking for help.

   Q. What kinds of assitance are 211 callers asking for?
   A. Just over half of the people here in Lee County call when they’re facing some sort of serious financial crisis. That could be a lot of things, but a good number of people call when they’re behind on their utility bills and are just hours from having their electricity shut off. Others may be trying to make a rent payment to avoid being kicked out of their homes.
   The next largest requests are people trying to find food or shelter — those are around 15 to 20 percent each. Then, we get a fair number of calls from people who are trying to get a job or need some sort of medical help.
   Of course, that’s not all of the calls we get. Legal advice and counseling requests aren’t unusual either. Really, it could be just about anything.

   Q. The United Way is coordinating Compassion ’09, a community roundtable scheduled later this week to look at how we’re serving people in need. Did that evolve from the current economic turmoil?
   A. Actually, no. We’ve been talking about doing this for the last few years, but it never quite got off the ground. There’s no doubt, though, that the economic situation has made everything that happens on May 14 all that more important.
   What we’re trying to do is bring together all of the local groups caring for people in need and figure out ways to do it better. You might not realize it, but there are at least 137 different organizations, right here in Lee County alone, doing some kind of outreach. And, those are the just the ones we know about.
All of these groups have a particular expertise and are doing fabulous work. What we’re trying to do at Compassion ’09 is to make sure everyone knows who else is involved in outreach, look for ways to coordinate our efforts and then tackle some of the bigger problems we face.
   This isn’t about the United Way; we’re just lending our staff and expertise to the cause. It’s about groups all over the community making life better for all of us.

   Q. Will another meeting make this happen?
   A. No, and that’s precisely why we’re holding Compassion ’09.
   This isn’t just “another meeting,” where people sit around and listen to speakers, go home and then immediately forget about everything that happened. At the heart of this community roundtable are interactive strategy sessions, where people who have a stake in one of the top issues facing our community get together to analyze the needs. They’ll suggest ways to coordinate their effort and find ways to help people more effectively.
And it doesn’t stop when the program ends around noon. After the roundtable’s over, we’ll pass those suggestions to a group of community volunteers responsible for putting recommendations into action.
   You’re right, we certainly don’t need a meeting. What we need is a coordinated effort and action. And that’s exactly what Compassion ’09 is all about.