United Way of Rutherford County

Your gift to the United Way works here in your community. It takes everyone in the community working together to help create lasting changes. Our VISION is to be the leader in the effort to create lasting changes in people's lives and community conditions and we need your support.

Read More

From Desk of the Executive Director of United Way of Rutherford County.

We've seen a meme floating around stating that United Way has a COVID19 Recovery Fund set up for those seeking assistance with rent, utilities, food, etc due to job changes/loss of income. We need to clear up confusion about this. That meme is STRICTLY for Indiana residents and connects people directly to their 211 system. Local United Way agencies operate independently. Earlier today, United Way Worldwide, our global umbrella agency, launched a recovery fundraising campaign. None of the local United Ways have access to any funds raised by that UWW initiative at this time.

Each local United Way has the autonomy to determine their role and decide how to best meet needs in their own communities. Our agency, United Way of Rutherford County, will be setting up a relief fund that provides individuals the opportunity to donate. All funds will remain local to serve county residents affected by the pandemic. We urge you to donate to this fund if you are in a position to do so. You can mail checks to: United Way of Rutherford County PO Box 823, Spindale, NC 28160. Please write: "COVID19 Recovery" in the check memo line. Those funds will be used here in our community. Again, all of the dollars stay local in Rutherford County.

We are currently monitoring the various types of assistance that might be offered by government. We are also exploring the availability of any additional funding sources to complement any of our local fundraising initiatives. We're in the process of determining the screening guidelines if we receive donations for assistance. Other United Way agencies around the country are likely doing the same.

So with that in mind, we urge you to PLEASE stop sharing that meme unless you are in Indiana. Their staff will be deluged screening out calls from across the nation.

UWRC is implementing a change in operations effective immediately-- we are still serving our community, however, our building is on lockdown and we are no longer taking walk-in clients. We will still provide homelessness screenings for regional coordinated entry for eligibility for services via Thrive. These screenings and ALL OTHER SERVICES AND INTAKES will now be provided by phone. Our office number is 828-286-3929.

Our work around substance use and mental health continues. However, all meetings and trainings are currently canceled until further notice. The work under our HRSA opioid strategic planning grant continues and all viable work flow efforts will take place via online or phone communication.

We are proud to serve our community. We take the health and safety of our friends, colleagues, family, and our staff members to heart. We want everyone to remain safe and as healthy as possible during a public health emergency that for the overwhelming majority of us, is unlike anything we've experienced in our lifetime.

We applaud the spirit of our community in working together. The efforts of Rutherford County Schools to continue feeding students, rapidly implementing online remote learning, and setting up Wifi stations at each school demonstrate the overwhelming goodness and commitment our leaders have to our students and their families. There are many other examples of people working together to assist others and we are appreciative of all the helpers.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we all adjust to the rapidly changing situation. If you are searching for resources we encourage you to utilize 2-1-1. It's staffed 24/7 and translators are available for non-English speaking individuals.

Finally, we acknowledge that the unknown can feel ominous and induce anxiety. Please, let's all be kind to one another. Check on your friends. Check on your neighbors. Check on the person in your neighborhood who lives alone. We have no idea how challenging things are going to get and the reality is, our humanity and compassion for how we treat others is one of the few things we truly can contol.