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Live United by Erin Haag

I previously mentioned in an article that this would be my last one until the end of May. Several people expressed surprise, and I reminded them that this happens every year — when the legislation is in session, I take a break for a few months. I’ll return with all the news and updates sometime in late May. In the meantime, keep an eye on our website at unitedwayfc.org and our social media pages. While we still have yet to figure out our “Facebook jail” for our main page, the United Way Welcome Page is still up and running.

I’ve always welcomed the break because this is the time of year that we’re assessing the data from 2023, filing the taxes and working on the internal minutiae of things. I suppose I could always write about my thrilling new time-clock system and how much easier it made things or about how the new Sick & Safe time laws went into effect, and I had to review our policies to ensure we complied. Or how two of the keyboards are on their last legs, and my quest to find just the right keyboard on a limited budget.

Those things don’t really spark a conversation, though, and I doubt anyone’s going to call me and tell me how much they loved reading about it or ask me more questions. Although now that I’ve mentioned it, I can think of a few readers who would — just to be onery and prove me wrong.

Thursday was the inaugural day of moving to appointment-based. Overall, I’m very pleased with how it went. Shoppers were able to sign up for appointments online and call to be set up with an appointment. There was a bit of chaos about where to put people who showed up and didn’t have an appointment, but we figured out the flow of traffic, and extra volunteers were on hand to assist them, including translators to help with our language barriers. We were able to get everyone an appointment that needed one, and we also offered what we call “stability boxes.” We’ve been offering them for a while — we called them emergency boxes. They were milk crates filled with pantry offerings to get an individual through for a few days until they could access another food resource or return for an appointment. I’ve been in conversations with our partners working in hunger relief across the state, discussing the best ways to approach these boxes. The suggestion to rename them to stability boxes just made sense — it’s not quite disaster relief level emergency, but it’s to help people get by. All the boxes are the same, shelf-stable foods. When available, we’ll add in items from the freezers, coolers and fresh produce. For example, this week, we added fish and sour cream to go with the chili that was in the box.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. Our biggest barriers were the ones we anticipated — and we had to work through them one by one. For example, on Monday, we learned that one person couldn’t access the pantry since that’s her only day off, and we’re switching to Wednesday. However, her dad was able to sign up as a proxy to be able to shop on her behalf, and he is ready and willing to do so. Success! It was a positive enough experience that I’m a little anxious, wondering if the other shoe is going to drop on Monday, the first Monday that we’ll be closed. For now, though, we’re going to take it as a win and enjoy our weekend, take a deep breath, and hopefully enjoy some of this sunshine and mild temps that have been happening.

I have a healthy respect for life-work balance. I also have a deep appreciation for how I’ve been able to integrate my chosen profession into my life. My daughter calls me every day. Being old enough for some independence, she has a few more choices in her after-school activities, but we stay in touch. She called me, and as I picked up, a shopper smiled at me and mouthed, “Your daughter?” That day, my daughter was a little extra tired, so she opted to come to the office and work on her homework while sitting at my desk. She circled around, saying hello to her volunteer friends, and stood behind me as I explained food resources to a shopper. I talked about meals at First Lutheran Church, if they needed a meal that evening. I shared how good the meals were, and my daughter let out this little “ooh!” making everyone laugh. She obviously was more than ready for a snack.

As much as I enjoy the flexibility of having a place for my children and the opportunity for them to be involved and give back, I also recognize that we’re a very small staff. There are days when our children are ill, or we’re sick ourselves, or they just need us — need us in ways that mean we’re disconnecting entirely from work. We need it for ourselves too, weekends to call our own, and evenings spent reading a good book or enjoying a good meal. To improve in that area, we’re leaning hard into developing systems that allow us to rotate responsibilities a little more. Where are we investing too much of our time?

What things can we hand over, and how can we empower them to do it themselves?

At the bottom of our ramp, there’s a giant mud puddle. It’s there until spring dries out enough that the parking lot is going to be repaired. The grass will be replanted, and I have dreams of some flowers, and maybe talking Bonnie into helping me with designing planters for our tall pots. Much like our landscaping, we’re going to wade into the mud, working through it until the blooms come. We’re off to a good start with the appointment system. The board of directors has renewed its commitment to the organization, and plans are underway for strategic planning sessions. New keyboards and time clocks and developing job descriptions for new staff are coming. Stay connected with us via our website, and as always, we welcome volunteers in all kinds of roles. You can reach us at 507-373-8670 to learn more or email Rosemary@unitedwayfc.org to learn more about our volunteer orientation evenings. See you on the other side of spring!

Erin Haag is the executive director of the United way of Freeborn County.