When You say Yes, you...
Unite People. Improve Lives. Strengthen Community.
Thank you for choosing to make a gift to United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County. Together, we mobilize our community and fight for the education, health and financial stability of everyone. When you say yes, you're helping to provide the vital resources the community needs.
Meet Four Community Members, Featured In the Video Above,
Who Were Able to Access Needed Resources Because You Said Yes...
Meet Olivia, a freshman at Erwin High School and graduate of Erwin Middle. With the support of United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County and Asheville City Schools weekly family engagement Homework Diner program, Olivia was able to spend quality time with teachers outside the classroom as well as student peers outside of her regular social circles. This enabled her to increase her grades in Math and other core subject and better transition from middle school to high school with the familiar faces of students and teachers who acted as mentors.
"To me, Homework Diners are for everyone," she shares. "So many different people showed up, super smart or very athletic, it didn't matter. Everybody went and everybody loved it and got so much help from it that it just benefitted everyone in so many different ways. There are just so many different people coming together and helping one another."
Listen to Olivia share how Homework Diners helped her via United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County's Soundcloud page.
Meet Eric. Eric found Green Opportunities during a difficult time in his life while watching his friends go to prison. Green Opportunities offers a combination of technical training, life skills training, and personalized support services to unemployed and under-employed residents of Asheville and Buncombe County. He decided he wanted something more for his life and his family and began their workforce training program in construction. Within a few years, Eric became Assistant Instructor then Lead Instructor of the program and an Adjunct Professor at Asheville Buncombe Technical College.
"I really tell everybody that Green Opportunities saved my life," he said. Without Green Opportunities, I don't know where I would be. It enabled me to show people that I am worth it. One of our models at Southside Woodworks, a social enterprise program born out of Green Opportunities with Eric's help, is that we use a lot of repurposed wood so: 'Where you see trash, I see treasure.' "A piece of wood can look so bad on the outside," he continues, "but as soon as you put it through all the tools, it's like a brand new piece of wood. People are the same way."
Listen as Eric shares some of his story and how he's inspiring others to believe in themselves and invest in their future via United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County's Soundcloud page.
Because you said yes, the families above and so many more in our community are able to access the resources they need.
When You say Yes, you...
Unite People. Improve Lives. Strengthen Community.