When the Covid 19 pandemic heightened urgent and emerging needs, United Way was uniquely positioned and built for this work by improving lives through direct service, collaboration, volunteerism and advocacy. Its role as a leader in the local non-profit community inspired donors to generously support its annual funding-raising campaign for 2021 that raised a record total of $3.476 million, the most money ever raised in a year in the 102 year history of the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. It marked the sixth, consecutive year the annual campaign exceeded $3 million.
      Chris Sammartino serves on United Way’s Board of Directors and chairs the Marketing Committee. He played a significant role in the agency’s Centennial Campaign by helping plan the 100th Anniversary Gala. His wife, Lisa, is a member of Women United, that focuses on the children impacted by United Way initiatives. After a year of unprecedented challenges, Chris and Lisa stepped into the role of 2021 campaign co-chairs because they believe in the United Way’s mission and the community.
      “We both have seen firsthand the amazing work the United Way does in the community. We serve as Report Card Mentors, we volunteer for the Saturday of Caring, and we help with the Christmas Gift Drive for the Success After 6 programs every year,” said Chris and Lisa. “We were extremely honored to take on the role of co-chairs for the campaign. The community needs to know about the excellent work the United Way does for our neighbors in need. We want to bring that message to everyone and knew we could do it in this role.”
      “We may never be able to fully express our gratitude to all our donors, but we begin with thank you to all of you who made this possible. This funding will allow us two years into the pandemic to continue to stabilize the individuals and homes most impacted,” said Bob Hannon, president of the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. “We are feeding hungry children and families, providing basic needs, helping nonprofit partners withstand drops in funding, and continue the impactful work that we were doing before we faced the Covid pandemic.”
      United Way will invest the money raised during the 2021 Rise United Campaign directly back into the Mahoning Valley. When the pandemic hit in 2020, the world changed but United Way’s mission remained the same.
      “We created new initiatives such as Satur-Day of Caring that delivers food directly to the homes of seniors, shut-ins, and families who cannot and should not be out during the pandemic,” Hannon said.
      Satur-Day of Caring began with 100 households and has quadrupled over the past 18 months thanks to the generosity of the Muransky family who started this initiative. In addition, Mahoning County Commissioners David Ditzler, Anthony Traficante and Carol Rimedio-Righetti gave American Recovery Funds back into the community.
      “These additional funds are critical as we face the rising cost of food and personal items that we take to more than 400 homes each month,” Hannon said.
      The Satur-Day of Caring initiative led to a dramatic increase in United Way’s volunteer base. Every third Saturday, 150 volunteers help pack food bags and deliver them to those in need. United Way was able to engage more than 500 new volunteers through 2020 and 2021, and we will continue to grow that number in 2022; especially through Early Education Initiatives.
      While students prepared to return to in-person learning for the 2021-2022 school year, United Way began transitioning its educational wraparound services for any changes within the partner districts caused by the pandemic. The Success By 6 staff worked tirelessly to welcome students and their families back over the summer months. 588 children across eighteen school districts took part in the Kindergarten Readiness initiative, showing improvement in math, literacy, and social-emotional development.
      Success After 6 staff brought students back for in-person, after-school programming while continuing to offer virtual tutoring opportunities through the Vello initiative. This program offers one-on-one reading sessions for students and tutors through a safe and secure digital setting. Vello has now grown from being in just one school to being in four schools.
      In 2014, United Way launched the Imagination Library in Mahoning County. This initiative promotes the love of reading at the earliest of ages. In 2019, Gov. Mike DeWine launched the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library expanding the reach of the program. In 2021, over 6,000 children across Mahoning County, birth to age 5, received one free book a month.
      “We continue to work to increase our reach with this program by offering special programming with our partner schools,” Hannon said.
      As United Way-led initiatives continue to grow, so does the need for the services provided by the United Way’s 35 non-profit partner agencies. These agencies continue to receive funding through United Way, many also received additional pandemic relief funding to help maintain and provide services for the most vulnerable in the community. The Board’s Impact Committee is currently reviewing applications from non-profits across Mahoning County for 2022-2024.