2-1-1 provides hope
I often talk with employees of major companies about how United Way 2-1-1 provides referrals for services available to those with a variety of needs, and how it provides a resource for volunteer opportunities.
I seldom know if my talks are informational for the listener. Is someone in their family having trouble paying the heat bill? I don’t know. Maybe they want to volunteer. Most of the time I will never know.
Last week, I was busy balancing the dollars that were reported for our most recent United Way campaign. My cell phone rings. I knew that a representative of a company was calling me because I give out my cell phone number to make it easier to reach me. On the other end of the line is instead an employee of a major corporation who is having financial problems.
There isn’t anything that I have to do that is more important than connecting this person to 2-1-1. After all, this is our work. This is what we do…help people in need. So I immediately walked my cell phone down two flights of stairs and handed it to a trained 2-1-1 operator.
I’m keeping the details of the call confidential. I can tell you that this person was at one time doing well. But due to circumstances beyond her control, she now felt despair due to financial problems.
Twenty minutes later, after talking to the 2-1-1 operator, she had hope again. I felt good to have played a small role in this feeling of hope, and in connecting her to the services that she needed.
Jeff Baytarian
Campaign Manager
Resource Development
I seldom know if my talks are informational for the listener. Is someone in their family having trouble paying the heat bill? I don’t know. Maybe they want to volunteer. Most of the time I will never know.
Last week, I was busy balancing the dollars that were reported for our most recent United Way campaign. My cell phone rings. I knew that a representative of a company was calling me because I give out my cell phone number to make it easier to reach me. On the other end of the line is instead an employee of a major corporation who is having financial problems.
There isn’t anything that I have to do that is more important than connecting this person to 2-1-1. After all, this is our work. This is what we do…help people in need. So I immediately walked my cell phone down two flights of stairs and handed it to a trained 2-1-1 operator.
I’m keeping the details of the call confidential. I can tell you that this person was at one time doing well. But due to circumstances beyond her control, she now felt despair due to financial problems.
Twenty minutes later, after talking to the 2-1-1 operator, she had hope again. I felt good to have played a small role in this feeling of hope, and in connecting her to the services that she needed.
Jeff Baytarian
Campaign Manager
Resource Development
Labels: 2-1-1, Employee Voices
posted by Jeff Baytarian at
11:42 AM
4 Comments:
What a great story, Jeff. This is exactly how it should be... walking the phone down two flights of stairs instead of directing the caller to another phone number. We so often get caught up in our own jobs that it is easy to forget that this is the work. Thank you for the reminder.
By
Ursula, at 2:18 PM
What an amazing story, and so simple - just walking down a couple flights of stairs. I'm sure the employee felt grateful to have you and United Way to count on.
By
Megan, at 2:56 PM
Good job of telling the UW story, Jeff, and for getting involved in the work.
- Rodd
By
Anonymous, at 3:22 PM
Jeff,
Thanks for this post. My husband and I are working with our own nonprofit environmental group, and when we first started, I remember talking about how we wanted to get information to 'customers.' After lengthy discussion, we all agreed that we would become 'green companions,' meaning that we would personally help others, as opposed to always shooting them information on the internet. You are doing exactly what we talked about...great! This is what it's all about.
By
Peggy Brennan, at 7:27 AM
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