Live United by Ann Austin

Ann Austin is the executive director of the United Way of Freeborn County.

The past few weeks I’ve had the great pleasure of working with a variety of volunteer organizations on flood cleanup in area homes. They are all part of Minnesota’s Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster. And, though there have been a few people coming from each organization, they have been hard workers and we were able to get most of the first list of 40 homes finished up.

While we were cleaning out basements and hauling things to the transfer station, I learned a lot about what each organization focuses on and the work they do across the world. It was inspiring.

But, at the same time, they talked about the challenges they have with engaging people on a local level. We had some fantastic local volunteers come out as well, but I was disappointed we didn’t have more people who stepped up to help their neighbors.

It’s a hard year for everyone — things have been very negative, and it’s easy to let that discourage us from helping others. However, we still need to step up to help each other, especially when times are hard. We can’t rely on groups like the ones who came here from Minneapolis, Iowa and Rochester — especially when they are also facing challenges.

This not only applies to volunteer engagement, but local giving trends as well. As more opportunities become available to give online to charities across the world, more of our local dollars are sent somewhere else.

Though nonprofits in our community have been able to adapt practices and streamline services, reduce costs and staffing, there are concerns this trend will continue and there won’t be enough funding to keep vital programming in our area.

Local nonprofits don’t have large budgets for impressive marketing practices, or celebrity endorsements. They don’t throw big parties or even pat themselves on the back. Much of the work they do goes on behind the scenes.

The staff of our nonprofits in Freeborn County dry tears of children whose parents are going through a divorce, they answer phones in the middle of the night to help people leave an abusive relationship, they stay late at work to help our senior citizens fill out paperwork so they don’t lose benefits.

Nonprofits are the first place people go when they don’t know where to turn and the last place people go when they have been turned away from everywhere else.

Over the years, people have come to expect nonprofits to fill in the gaps and show up. As our staff sizes and support has decreased, we can’t do it all, and we never could.

In order to address the problems we face, nonprofits need the community to step up. Nonprofits provide structure and sustainability for local programs and outreach efforts, but we can’t solve the problems on our own. And we won’t continue to exist without the community’s support.

Nonprofits are vital to the health of our community. We need to continue to support them because, someday when you most need the help, you might not have someone to call.

Whether you give, advocate or volunteer, focus on our local community. Give local. Live united.