Volunteer Opportunity

Position: Community Solutions Panel Member

Approximate time commitment: 20 hours from April through June

As a community solutions volunteer you will carry out UWEI's stewardship role on behalf of our contributors. Your responsibility is to objectively and fairly review the funding requests of local nonprofit organizations and recommend how UWEI should invest campaign funds in our communities. You and your fellow volunteers will maintain confidentiality and make every attempt to report and avoid conflicts of interest. Your duties include:

Read and review all materials provided to you prior to activities. Grant materials will be provided via a web portal for review and scoring.
Understand and be familiar with UWEI's mission and goals.
Participate and contribute to your panel.
Participate in at least one agency visit.
Participate in agency interviews.

Please contact Chris Wiersema if you have any questions or would like to volunteer: cwiersema@unitedwayif.org or 208-522-2674.

See table below for schedule of events and for Community Solutions Panel Volunteer (CSPV) events.

Date

Grant Process Timeline

5/6/2026

Community Solutions Panel Volunteer training. Volunteer/panel assignments sent to Panel Chairs. Six panels reviewing 4-6 grants applications.

5/6/2026 -

6/1/2026

Completed grant applications will be sent Panel Chairs and volunteers for review, scoring, interviews. Follow up with additional interviews and possible site visits.

6/4/2026

Community Solutions Panel Chairs meet to create funding recommendations for the June board meeting.

In the Know

Thanks to the Hall Foundation

We are incredibly grateful to the Hall Foundation for generously funding our Ready. Set. GO! Weekend Food Bags for local elementary students during Spring Break. Because of your support, children who rely on school meals will have full bellies during the nine-day school break.

A special thank you as well to the Southfork Properties team for volunteering their time and energy to pack 400 food bags—your kindness and energy made this effort possible.

Also thank you to the The Smith Group for delivering all 400 of the food bags to the local elementary schools.

Thanks to all of you, our students are cared for, supported, and nourished. 💙

We’re looking for volunteers to help collect food donations outside of Sam’s Club in support of our Ready. Set. GO! Weekend Food Bag Program. Shifts are just 1.5 hours, making it easy to fit into your day—while still making a meaningful difference in our community! Food Drive Volunteer Registration

Scrap It Forward: Turning Small Donations into Big Impact

At Pacific Steel in Recycling in Idaho Falls the Scrap It Forward program is a simple way for customers to give back to the community. When you bring in scrap, you have the option to donate your scrap ticket value instead of receiving cash. To make giving easy, Pacific Steel provides a list of local programs you can choose from at the time of your visit. On your next trip, consider designating your donation to

United Way of Eastern Idaho and help support vital services right here in our community.

Customers can participate in Scrap It Forward by bringing in a wide variety of recyclable materials, including:

Steel
Aluminum (cans, siding, and scrap pieces)
Copper and brass
Ferrous & Non-ferrous
Auto parts and miscellaneous metal items
Catalytic converters
and more!

While many individual donations may only be a few dollars, they quickly add up. Together, these small contributions create meaningful support.

Location:

1155 N. Higbee

Idaho Falls, ID 83401

Phone: 1-800-499-2267

(208) 529-4180

Post Register Readers' Choice Awards

The Post Register's annual Readers' Choice Contest has started! United Way of Eastern Idaho has been nominated, but we need your help to increase awareness. Nominate and vote for us by visiting the link below. We are under the group People and Places and the category of Best Nonprofit.

Vote daily starting now!

Readers' Choice Awards

Power of $10 Fundraiser

A huge THANK YOU to Rich Media, Porter Pro Media, the Spud Kings, Mountain America Center, Smith Group, Channel 8, Channel 6, Club Apple and our amazing board members for helping us spread the word about our Power of $10 Fundraiser!

Because of your support and your willingness to share our mission with the community, we didn’t just reach our goal — we blew past it.

Every dollar will go directly toward our Ready. Set. GO! weekend food bags, helping provide food for local elementary students who need extra support over the weekends.

We are so grateful for partners like you who help make this work possible and help ensure kids in our community have the nourishment they need to learn, grow, and thrive.