Representatives from several ethnic communities around St. Louis were present at a luncheon held November 4 at the United Way at their new location near the Edward Jones Dome. Among the various ethnic communities represented there were Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Japanese, Hispanics, and Africans, as well as representatives from the International Institute. The purpose of this lunch was to both familiarize ethnic communities with services offered by the United Way, as well as to find out how to better assist ethnic communities.

United Way CEO Gary C. Dollar spoke about how his organization is working to build a “safety net?to ensure healthier communities in the St. Louis region. He also mentioned several of the agency programs including their work with FEMA; the 100 Neediest Cases (which appears in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch around Christmas time); Success by Six, which works with early child care agencies and their constituents to ensure that children enter school prepared to succeed; and BoardlinkSTL, an organization dedicated to finding volunteers to serve on boards of organizations as well as helping individuals find boards to serve on. (www.boardlinkstl.org).

Gary also spoke about the incredible efficiency of United Way fundraising, which results in 91 cents per dollar going to help those in need, with only 9 cents per dollar going to overhead costs. The United Way just completed its 2005 fundraising campaign and raised 65.5 million dollars to provide health and social services to 200 Missouri and Illinois agencies. One million local residents receive United Way agency services each year. Several leaders from ethnic communities, including Sheow Chang, Founding President of Friends of Taiwan, briefly spoke about their communities.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Lisa Richter at 314-539-4114. To find out about services offered by the United Way or donating, go to www.unitedway.org/.