United Way of Freeborn County distributes money raised each fall to programs serving four essential needs:

1. Nurturing children and families

2. Assisting people in crisis

3. Increasing self sufficiency

4. Supporting older people

Meeting these four essential needs for the common good of Freeborn County is what the United Way does.

Nurturing children and families is so important to our whole community so we can Live United. We need to focus on educating our children. Children learn best in loving, nurturing relationships and through everyday experiences. That hard-wires the brain for future learning, especially in the early years. Whether children are at home, with relatives or friends, or in child care — the quality of early education is key to later school success. It’s well known that children learn best when they receive good health care, nutrition and plenty of sleep. This means visiting your doctor regularly for visits, getting plenty of sleep, and eating well in order to maximize their learning activities.

Children are constantly learning, right from birth. Their early years are the foundation for growth and development, and what they learn during those years depends on the experiences they have each and every day. This is our greatest challenge as caregivers, as well as our greatest opportunity. Science has demonstrated that children who receive lots of love and attention actually learn better. From the very first moments of life with a baby, the love and attention that you share will lay the groundwork for later learning.

Children entering kindergarten with skills they need to succeed are more likely to graduate from high school and become productive workers. But almost half of America’s kindergarteners are behind.

With more than 1.2 million children dropping out of school each year, America faces a dropout crisis. The cost? More than $312 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes according to Communities in Schools, (one of America’s leading drop-out prevention partnerships.) These trends are reversible, but only when communities and public, private and nonprofit sectors work together.

Education is the cornerstone of individual and community success. It’s essential to getting and keeping a job with a livable wage and health benefits. And it’s fundamental to a community’s economic prosperity: a well educated workforce attracts world-class jobs.

To ensure that children get early exposure to books — which helps build literacy skills and is a factor in graduation rate, United Way of Freeborn county delivers a book to all kindergarten through second grade children in Freeborn County. This year’s book is being written and illustrated by Tim Engstrom.

Approximately 42.4 percent of United Way Funding goes to programs that serve our youth, our future. In 2007 there were 3,511 children and families that received support from United Way.

United Way is funding mentoring programs and after-school initiatives through partner agencies, The Children’s Center, Albert Lea Family Y, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Service, Crime Victim’s Crisis Cetner, and the Freeborn County Chemical Dependency Center. These agencies receive support from United Way to help nurture children and families so we can all Live United.

Tiffany Hagan is a co-chairwoman of the 2008 United Way campaign in Freeborn County.