United Way pairs 'dream' theme with record goal

Steve Davis, president of Columbus Water Works and chairman of United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley's 2015 funding campaign, told the crowd at Thursday's kickoff that this year's theme will be: "What's your dream for the Chattahoochee Valley?"

And to fulfill the dreams of the countless people United Way helps, the organization has set another record fundraising goal of $7,011,000. Given this community's long and impressive history of philanthropy, there's no reason to doubt that the community's cheerful givers will meet and exceed it.

United Way has made thousands of dreams come true over the years, and will do so for years to come. But the organization, through the many services and agencies it supports, also serves the modest but at least as necessary purpose of just making some otherwise miserable lives bearable.

The dreams are probably pretty humble for women too poor to afford even decent underwear, which the UW Women's Leadership Council will collect and donate. The dreams of poor children are likelier to come true if they come to school equipped with the supplies more affluent families take for granted; and many will, thanks to the Stuff the Bus program. Homeless people with humble dreams of decent shelter have gotten it, and more will get it, through Home for Good; even humbler dreams of mere sustenance are fulfilled through Feeding the Valley.

And, as Thursday's audience witnessed in an emotional moment, the dreams of a family who dared to wish only for survival and contentment for a disabled daughter have been fulfilled beyond their expectations, thanks to the work of Easter Seals.

Davis told Thursday's gathering that in visiting many of United Way's partner agencies, "I've just been blown away by the commitment and the caring of these people that are essentially being our hands and our voices."

Davis also commented that circumstances in the lives of people in the Valley area have caused many of their dreams to be deferred. That observation coincides, as it happens, with a state Labor Department report that the Columbus metro area jobless rate had risen one-tenth of a percentage point, from 7.4 percent in June to 7.5 percent in July.

That's a statistically minor increase -- except, of course, to the people whose loss of a job is part of the statistic, in which case there's nothing "minor" about it.

It means, in any case, that in Columbus, and in the greater Valley area, a few more dreams will be deferred for a while longer, and a few more people will need the generosity of those able and willing to provide it.

United Way, as always, needs as many of us as possible to number ourselves among the latter.

This story was originally published August 30, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "United Way pairs 'dream' theme with record goal."