Dear Friends,

November is the month to give thanks. As many of you have, I’ve needed to make a conscious effort to ground myself and take pause to remember all the good that surrounds us, even when there is sadness, isolation, and sometimes fear. It is with a full heart that I devote the November 2020 CEO letter to gratitude for all who help enrich the lives of our community and our organization.

Our nonprofit community serves people on the front line, day in and day out, providing food, shelter, safety, and much more. Over the past several months, the leadership within each of these organizations has had to face tough decisions about the safety of their staff and those they serve. This requires resiliency, flexibility, and passion that cannot be crushed. People serving others in the nonprofit sector are incredible humans. They seek resources, build connections, teach, and model skills to assist others to be their best selves. I know that that genuine, caring spirit of providing something for others who desperately need it is exhausting to your soul and it is a heavy weight to carry--yet they get up every day and do it again with a smile on their face and love in their heart. THANK YOU for all that you give back!

We are so grateful for our business partners at all levels! We would not be here without them! Many of them offer a corporate gift for our community impact fund or run a workplace campaign, allowing employees to hear what United Way does and choose to donate to us to help support 31 local programs! They encourage employees to volunteer and share that our Get Connected volunteer portal is a great place to look for meaningful volunteer opportunities. Our business partners offer us other amazing supports that aren’t monetary but are just as priceless. Services like ads, articles, radio spots, interviews, etc., all help share the message and build confidence in our name. United Way adds incredible value to this community, and we appreciate you sharing that message!

United Way’s Board of Directors and volunteer committee members have committed countless hours to help shape this organization, which consequently helps shape our community. We have volunteers who read and score grant applications, making very difficult funding recommendations. Resource Development and campaign cabinet volunteers help do outreach and engagement with numerous businesses so that we can successfully reach our fundraising goal of $1.2M. We have marketing and finance experts, among many other talents, and they all choose to spend their volunteer hours with us! We are indebted to you for the leadership you offer. Personally, I have been so fortunate that many of you have helped me build my own skills, network, and talents as well over these last four years.

And to the staff at United Way: Yes, the three of you get your own paragraph! 😊 Your resiliency in the workforce has not gone unnoticed. You have come together as a team to build and support each other, but also to support the community, including the lives of 42,000 local people who were impacted through this network—and doing this VIRTUALLY no less! You have learned (and taught) new skills; Your creativity and passion has been bolstered through this all and our community could not be more lucky than to have you helping support this ever-important network! Thanks for your leadership and your drive that makes working with each of you a blessing! 

Grateful As All Get Out,

Danielle Peterson

President/CEO

We want to say THANK YOU! to Riley Subaru for choosing United Way of Dubuque Area Tri-States as their Share The Love charity. For every Subaru sold at Riley between now and January 4, 2021, we will receive a donation that goes into our community impact fund to support our non-profit community!

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