Bham Now Bold Speaker David Sher’s chosen charity – United Way of Central Alabama
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A can’t miss event!
On Thursday, April 13th, 5:30-7:30 at Avondale Brewing Company, Bham Now will be holding it’s fourth installment of the BOLD Speaker Series.
Purchase your tickets to Bham Now BOLD Speaker Series today
This month’s speaker is David Sher publisher of the popular blog ComebackTown.com.
As part of the speaker series, Bham Now will be honoring United Way of Central Alabama, Sher’s charity of choice, at the event. 10% of ticket sales will be donated to The United Way.
Sher summed up why he chose The United Way
“Our United Way raises almost $40 million a year for our non-profits and local initiatives. It has made its campaign goal every year since the Depression and has had increases every year for 62 years in a row,” stated Sher.
“No other United Way in the country has had this kind of success.”
The United Way funds 80+ partner agencies and programs in Central Alabama. Here is the list of groups that benefited from the United Way in 2016.
In a recent Bham Now interview with Drew Langloh, United Way of Central Alabama’s President and CEO, we learned that United Way does more than fund local agencies and programs, they fill in the gaps in services to address immediate needs. Langloh gave two examples:
Confronting homelessness with veterans
According to Langloh:
“Three years ago the VA wanted to address homelessness among veterans, and they were going to put up $300 million to seek grants from local communities. When our community didn’t have the capacity to pull this together, we (United Way) said this is too important, we can’t pass this up.
So, we put together a program, applied for federal funding, set up four offices around the state, hired case workers and social workers, and in the last three years we’ve re-housed 1800 veterans and their families.
That’s not what most United Ways do.”
Another example -Meals on Wheels
“A year ago, the nonprofit agency that ran Meals on Wheels in Jefferson County went into bankruptcy and announced they were closing their doors in two weeks.
We worked with Tony Petelos the county manager….we stepped in and took over the program. Cooks and drivers were put on our payroll.. we didn’t miss a meal.”
Today, United Way’s Meals on Wheels coordinates the delivery of more than 700 daily meals to homebound seniors and individuals with disabilities in Jefferson County.
Alabama Power Volunteers for Meals On Wheels from united way on Vimeo.
Simply inspirational. The United Way of Central Alabama is truly a remarkable organization that makes a difference in our community.
Join Bham Now at our BOLD Speaker Series on April 13th, 5:30 at Avondale Brewing Company to see Comeback town’s David Sher and support the United Way.
