In the first few weeks of September SARCC staff attended kickoff events for United Way campaigns in both Lebanon and Schuylkill counties. United Way organizations were founded with the intention of creating a collective community movement toward giving that promotes shared values. In Schuylkill County, the campaign each year shares the slogan, “HOPE: helping other people every day.”
In both counties, SARCC benefits from United Way funding, allowing us to provide services to children and their families who are reckoning with disclosures of sexual abuse and promoting prevention and education that helps to prevent this type of victimization in the future. In Schuylkill County our United Way funding predominantly provides access to our 24-hour hotline support and our education services for the youngest members of our community. Each year, Miss Clarissa visits all the 13 school districts that serve the county, providing education to thousands of children in our communities.
In Lebanon County, our United Way dollars allow us to continue to provide advocacy support at the Child Advocacy Center, where children attend age-appropriate forensic interviews and medical exams, and a SARCC advocates meets with and provides support to their families. This support helps them to navigate access to in-school support and trauma therapy after the investigation is concluded.
While many of our friends and neighbors are aware that SARCC benefits from United Way giving, they may not realize that it is actually through this giving that SARCC is also eligible for grants related to Victim Services at the state level. Without our local United Way contributions, SARCC would struggle to meet the match requirements that make it possible for us to provide over 40% of our services to victims of violent crime. For this reason, SARCC staff members, volunteers, and board members often make the decision to contribute to the United Way in their communities.
If you too would like to join SARCC staff and volunteers in contributing to our local United Way campaigns, take a few minutes to visit the websites shown below for the United Way organizations that serve our communities:
Your donations make a difference to SARCC, along with other United Way organizations in our community. It allows us to keep the doors open and continue providing central services and supports to our neighbors. Thank you for being a part of the HOPE that we seek to build in our communities!
