Read How Others Live United

Boston University is a leader among our partners in the academic world, raising $175,000 in 2007 to support our work. As part of this year’s campaign, they moved their support up a notch by declaring Dec 6 Live United Day at the Agganis Arena. That day, a crowd of 1300 Terriers basketball fans heard about United Way’s work and enjoyed a performance by Dancers from Hyde Square Task Force, a United Way partner working to empower youth and families to enhance their own lives and build a strong and vibrant urban community. The crowd viewed our Community Support Fund PSA and United Way’s own Amanda Angel addressed the audience at half time.

BU also hosted over 120 youth served by United Way agencies with free tickets to the game and a reception where the audience had refreshments with the team and collected autographs.

Go Terriers!

I live united by helping the children in my church, trying to find a way to reach out to the Youth in my community, and trying to get an afterschool program started for the Youth in the community.

I train athletes with life challenges ranging from physical challenges to emotional and psychological and social challenges. I am a community ambassador for United Way. I take care of my family. I am not afraid to beg for those already doing so.

At 5:45 AM on the morning of Saturday, August 2, I joined a mass of thousands of cyclists at the start of the Pan-Mass Challenge in Sturbridge, MA. In just fifteen minutes, we would begin our 112 miles to Bourne, all riding for the singular focus of ridding the world of the terrible, vicious, and complex disease known as cancer. I rode as a member of Team Kermit, a group founded by Steven and Ellen Branfman, parents of one of my bike racing teammates, to remember their other son who passed away several years ago. I also had more personal reasons for riding, including the memory of my cycling coach and friend Alaric Gayfer.

And so all 38 members of Team Kermit began the ride at 6 AM with green Kermit stuffed animals affixed to the tops of our helmets. While we certainly stood out amongst the thousands of other riders, I quickly learned that there were no celebrities here, no one who deserved any more or less than everyone else. We were all on the same ground, riding for the same reason, and everyone had similar stories to the other members of Team Kermit and me. Not only was the PMC composed of the riders, but thousands of volunteers had given up their Saturday (and Sunday as well for the two-day ride to Provincetown) to make the ride happen. Without these people who provided food at the rest stops, drove support vehicles along the route, and performed many other necessary but hidden functions, there would be no ride or millions of dollars raised to support the Jimmy Fund. Perhaps most striking to me, however, was the number of people who came out and stood along the route, cheering every single rider on, from the fastest to the slowest. Holding signs to honor lost family members or signs claiming that they have been cancer free for five years, these were the people who really made my PMC. They aren’t a part of the ride, but they have a unique connection to everyone riding, and all were extremely grateful that we were doing what we could to provide a brighter future for everyone.

Participating in the PMC was a fantastic, yet humbling, experience for me. Cancer can be a devastating disease, but it is also something that can bring people together and push them to help make a change in this world. I hope to someday be a pediatric oncologist, but I hope even more that, through the efforts of the PMC and countless other groups, that job will someday no longer exist.
Please, join me in the fight against cancer and support the PMC and the Jimmy Fund:

http://www.pmc.org/mypmc/profiles.asp?Section=story&eGiftID=TY0009

Community involvement has long been a key aspect of Deloitte's culture, and the firm has been a pioneer in skills-based volunteerism, sharing not only time, but highly valued professional skills with nonprofits. Over the years, Deloitte has also become an advocate for this approach to volunteering. The firm regularly conducts research that has demonstrated not only the value of skills based volunteering to the organizations served, but also its importance as a tool for recruitment, training & retention. President George W. Bush recognized Deloitte's leadership in the field of corporate volunteerism at a White House ceremony in February 2008.

Deloitte is also a leader locally. People at the firm's Boston office contributed over $1,000,000 to United Way last year, and its employees and partners contribute many professional service hours to local nonprofit organizations. As part of the firm's national Impact Day, in addition to dispatching over 1000 people to over 60 nonprofit site in greater Boston, the New England office designed and hosted the 2008 Deloitte Summit for Non-Profit Leaders, where over 130 non-profit leaders attended workshops on measuring success, using the Web technology to advance their missions and more.

"The ‘Live United' philosophy complements our community involvement strategy, which emphasizes year-round, skills-based volunteering in addition to financial support," said Bill Bacic, New England Managing Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP. "This comprehensive approach helps the United Way achieve its mission while providing our people with valuable opportunities for leadership and professional development through skills-based volunteering initiatives."

This summer, I will be participating with my cycling team, Fitness
Together/Independent Fabrication Racing, in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund of the Dana- Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. We will be riding as members of Team Kermit, in support of the family of one of our teammates whose brother succumbed to cancer several years ago and whose father is a cancer survivor.

You can learn more at the following sites:

• My Pan Mass Challenge Profile
• Team Kermit Profile

by taking the trash out for my elderly neighbor for that last 7 years

Matthew Borders IV, 23
Stoughton, MA

By telling a young man who plays basketball that he can do more than just star on the court and exposing him to the opportunity to be a sports agent; by taking a young man who aspires to be a rapper and giving him the opportunity to produce, be an A&R or even an executive at his own label -- these are the ways that I Live United.

I Live United by moving back to the community in which I was raised to give back to those who are there and need assistance.

I LIVE UNITED by reading the news everyday and paying attention to the needs of the community around me. I also write for SpeakUnited , a United Way blog focused on the challenges our community faces and solutions ordinary people can help create when acting together. I believe that part of advancing the common good starts with simply telling the story of where we've been and where we, as a community, want to be. For me, that's a form of advocacy. That's Living United.

I smile at strangers.
I give up my seat on the T for the elderly, the disabled, and the tired.
I talk to my neighbors.
I recycle.
I mentor high school teens and college students.
I serve as a community representative on the DSS Foster Care Case Review panels.
I work here!
I Live United.

Bob Mahoney

New England Banking Co and Immediate Past Chairman of the Board, United Way Advocate. I LIVE UNITED by encouraging my family, friends and colleagues to get involved in the community. I have, for a long time now, recognized the role that business can play in advancing the common good in our community. It’s important to me that Massachusetts families have what they need to support their children and get ahead. A safe and permanent home, a good job, the knowledge and skills to build a strong future—these are the pillars of a good life. And everyone should have the opportunity to attain them. By serving on the Boards of United Way and Catholic Charities, I’ve been able to provide the leadership and help forge the partnerships that can drive the sort of lasting changes that our children need. I am proud of my work to create community solutions. I’m proud to Live United.

Maria Semsa, Age 29.

I LIVE UNITED by Working at Ensuring Stability through Action in our Community, a United Way partner agency, and by working as a health educator, teaching families about asthma treatment.

Learn about Ensuring Stability through Action in our Community.

Visit http://www.esacboston.org/

Bridget Jevens, Age 25.
I LIVE UNITED by being a mentor to young girls. It is so important to have someone to look up to when you’re a teenager, especially if that someone is not much older then you.

I listen to the young girls I mentor explain their stories of the stresses of for applying to college, first-time boyfriends, and how they deal with pressure by their peers. They may not always take my advice, and I know when I was their age, I believed I knew everything. But sometimes having someone listen to you about your issues and give a little insight into similar problems they encountered makes you feel less alone and confused. I still to this day get emails from the young girls I mentored telling me about how they solved their issues with friends and how they are doing in college. I will always be and need a mentor. At 25, I still have mentors; I find them in my friends, work colleagues, and most of all my family. Living your life is hard to do alone; having a mentor makes the journey a little easier.

I LIVE UNITED by regularly visiting and reading to hospitalized children and encouraging others to volunteer in their communities.

I LIVE UNITED by tutoring at-risk kids in my community and getting my friends to talk about the issues that affect them. I remember what it was like to bee a teen and how important it was to have guidance and support.

Tom Menino

Boston Mayor | United Way Partner | Champion for Children I Live United by working to ensure Boston’s children have all they need reach their fullest potential. I’ve partnered with United Way to launch Thrive in Five, a new public-private partnership aimed at preventing the achievement gap by promoting school readiness and ensuring the healthy development of Boston’s children.