Editor:

My name is Kevin Lunn and I’ve been living in Montpelier for the past eight years. Over the past few years, I’ve been volunteering my time for Green Mountain United Way (GMUW), serving as a Board member, assisting with their special events and, most recently, I have been voted in as their newest Board President.

For those who may not be familiar with GMUW, they are a non-profit organization whose mission is to “mobilize communities to create lasting changes in local conditions that will improve lives.” Their service area is pretty vast, serving five counties from Washington and Orange, and all the way through Caledonia, Essex and Orleans in the Northeast Kingdom.

GMUW serves these areas in numerous ways through their four impact areas of Income, Health, Education and Basic Needs. They partner with other organizations, committees and coalitions to assist in realizing their vision of building a stronger community. These partnerships may consist of providing programmatic funding through Community Impact grants, Human Resources education to businesses, training on financial literacy for adults and students, and providing the community with resource information on food shelves, prescription discount cards and goods and services, just to name a few. GMUW also maintains a Volunteer Network that provides venues where potential volunteers can access information about volunteer opportunities within their community.

GMUW’s work is amazing and truly helps to make our communities stronger. However, it does come at a price. This year the fundraising goal for GMUW has been set at $600,000. I understand that this is an ambitious goal, but I hope that when you think about all the ways that GMUW is available to assist you, your neighbors, friends and family, you will decide that this is an organization worth giving to, because a donation to Green Mountain United Way is an investment in your community.

Thank you.

Kevin Lunn, GMUW Board President

Montpelier