Put all those Zoom meetings over here and all that email over there while you’re at it.
Text messages — can’t forget those.
Or those oh-so-20th century landline telephone calls.
Mix in a caring community with all of the above and what do you get?
A total of $1,236,801.
That’s how much the United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties brought in during its 2021 campaign.
And that’s a fundraising effort, co-chair David Hardesty said, made all the more amazing — since all that altruism had to be done at a distance.
Hardesty, the president-emeritus of WVU, helped lead the effort with his wife, Susan, the former first lady of the state’s land-grant university.
That total, the couple announced, came in at 108% over its original goal of $1,142,000.
Susan Hardesty was surprised.
Except, she wasn’t.
For years, she oversaw the campaign on the university end of things.
In that role, she was able to visit all the member agencies (currently 24) served by the outreach organization.
She was awed by the people who toiled, oftentimes unknown and unseen, to simply make life better for neighbors less fortunate.
“So many people do such good work,” she said.
That good work continued through fall 2020 and into January for the close-out of the campaign.
The only difference, she said, was that most of those faces had to be partially covered because of the coronavirus roiling West Virginia and the nation.
“Now, more than ever,” the theme of the campaign, was a tagline, David Hardesty said, that couldn’t have been more appropriate for its time.
For the people already in need across Mon and Preston, the pandemic only added to the pain.
“A lot of people are surprised when they find out that so many people are still going hungry,” he said.
“Going hungry,” as in experiencing food insecurity, or the state of simply not having enough to eat to sustain one’s self nutritionally.
Empathy and compassion, though, he said, were just as contagious as COVID-19.
“This is a good, caring place,” he said.
“And I can tell you, the United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties is one of the best-run volunteer agencies I’ve ever dealt with.”
“Every penny stays right here,” Susan Hardesty seconded.
“I think that’s why people are so confident in giving.”
Along with all that outreach to all those agencies, the local United Way does work of its own, through its Helpful Harvest Food Program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, WV211 call service and the Monongalia County Family Resource Network.
A Response and Recovery Fund set up specifically in response to COVID-19 has garnered just over $130,000 in donations distributed to community agencies working to help during the pandemic.
While this campaign is done, its inherent call isn’t, said Brandi Helms, the United Way’s chief executive officer.
“We know we still have friends and families and neighbors who are still food insecure,” she said.
“We know people continue to need financial support, in terms of paying their bills, their rent, their mortgage.”
