Happy Thanksgiving!

Maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices. —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love I’m a fan of Gilbert’s advice. In our hustling, bustling, plugged-in world, it’s easy to let the power and…

Read More

Hunger Awareness: Ending the "Rumblies"

In the classic cartoon, “Winnie The Pooh and The Honey Tree,” Pooh Bear sings of his love for honey to satisfy his hunger, what he calls a “rumbly in my tumbly.” But for more than 58,000 people in the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo region, hunger isn’t a happy song; it’s a daily question mark. That’s…

Read More

Have You Met ALICE?

There are 39,611 ALICE households in Calhoun and Kalamazoo County and more than 1.54 million households in the State of Michigan according to the recent United Way ALICE Report released by local United Ways.  ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. These are households earning more than the official U.S. poverty level but less…

Read More

United Way Invests Millions in Local, Regional Programs

From early grade reading to support services for seniors, 106 programs operated by nonprofit agencies across the region are welcoming support totaling more than $7.6 million from United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region (UWBCKR). “Because of our incredibly generous supporters, United Way is able to fund programs that are changing lives in…

Read More

A Lesson in Tough Choices: ECM Roundtable

Our dedicated Employee Campaign Managers (ECMs) joined us for the annual Roundtable event to begin preparing for our upcoming campaign.  We’re very fortunate to have such committed individuals who work to bring the Live United spirit into their workplaces all year long!  Rickman House hosted this year’s event, and even provided our ECMs with a…

Read More

Motivating Monday: Denise Washington, From Poverty to Ph.D

Denise Washington seemed destined to be a poster woman for young, single mothers aspiring to little more than a minimum-wage existence. Forty years ago, Washington was offered a college scholarship to pursue a degree in accounting at Western Michigan University and had a promising internship lined up.  But with a semester left before her high…

Read More