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Live United by Erin Haag

My driveway is covered in walnuts. As much as I love having trees around, I hate walnuts on my driveway. There’s something about driving over them, with the popping noise they make that is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Even writing about it makes me shudder. When they were younger, my children made a game of clearing the driveway for Mama, seeing who could throw a walnut the furthest. Now that they’re older and fully immersed in all the activities, they have less time to keep the driveway clear.

There’s going to be a day soon when I wake up, and the walnuts are all gone. They’ll have just disappeared overnight. Every year when that morning comes, when I see the walnuts are gone, I take a deep breath and take an extra moment to myself. Within the week, the phone will be ringing off the hook, my email inbox will increase tenfold and we will hustle. See, those squirrels that clear the driveway are showing me that the weather is moving quickly from fall to winter, and this is the first round of when we start seeing what the need is for winter coats.

We’re running a few weeks behind this year, but Winter Gear Drive boxes are going out. Some will be out this weekend, depending on the weather. It’s difficult to set up cardboard boxes when it’s rainy and windy, but we’ll get them out. We’ll focus on collecting coats and checking in with our human service providers for the next couple of weeks. Our first community distribution date will be Saturday, Oct. 28, from 9 a.m. to noon. You’ll find a list of the drop-off sites and the dates posted on the side of the box and on our website at unitedwayfc.org/wintergear

There’s often the question about what we accept in those winter gear boxes. This time of year, it’s anything that will keep people warm. We’ll accept hats, gloves, boots, coats, heavy sweatshirts and sweaters, and even winter clothing. For clothing, we ask that it be seasonal and place it on a table for people to sort through and take what they need. In the past, I’ve even found unopened hygiene items such as deodorant, soaps and even toilet paper in the boxes. Those were put to good use as well.

There’s a bit of a change this year. In the past, we’ve provided coats to anyone who needs one, no questions asked. This year, we knew that with increased needs in the area, we would have to have a guideline to ensure that coats go to those most in need. Winter Gear is for those who fall at or under 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Families who are already enrolled in a program such as energy assistance or WIC automatically qualify. Much like our pantry, we don’t ask for documentation, but we’ll ask if they fall in the category. For a family of four, that’s an annual income of $30,000 or less. Charts will be available to help figure this out. I strongly suspect that those we’ve served in the past have always met this guideline, but just the messaging may be helpful to understand precisely the demographic this program is designed to serve.

There’s a large list, but you’ll find Winter Gear Drive boxes at Mayo Clinic, Albert Lea Family Y, Whimzy, Bomgaars, Walmart and Hy-Vee.

Trinity Lutheran Church is joining in the fun this year, and if you’re out in the Ellendale Area or Hartland area, Arcadian Bank and Jason’s 10,000 Custom Designs are hosting boxes. Several internal work drives are happening. If you’d like to hold an internal coat drive at your workplace, let us know and we’ll get you started!

Aside from the prepping for our Winter Gear Drive, the team is also prepping to host an event! While Casino Night was a ton of fun last year, with the rising costs of — well, just about everything — it’s impacted our ability to have a full-scale fundraiser. Instead, we’ve decided to re-imagine the event into more of an open house style. So please save the date for the evening of Nov. 18, when you’ll Fall in Love with United Way.

I’ll write more next week finalizing the start time of the event, but I couldn’t wait to share what we have planned so far!

You can tour our space, see the changes we’ve made and learn about our different programs. This is an excellent opportunity to sign up to volunteer, bring in a pledge card and get to know us and our fantastic team of volunteers. There will be yummy treats, a silent auction and no boring speeches. We’re working with our area human service providers to identify families on the adoption list for the Jingle Holiday Program, so if it all works out, you’ll be able to adopt a family just in time for the holiday kickoff to Christmas shopping.

You’ve been reading about our work and our space, now it’s time to see it in person and see the impact of our community’s donations. If you’re a current volunteer, I hope you’ll join us as well and enjoy some warm apple cider and let us show you our appreciation. It’s been a new journey for us this summer, but we’re truly just getting started. There’s more to come, and we look forward to celebrating, showing off our work, spending time with familiar faces and welcoming new ones. Until then, clean out those closets, and watch out for those walnuts to disappear. That’s game time!

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