On  Saturday, May 12th, we all have a very easy way to take part in building a Hunger Free Community through the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Collect and bag non-perishable food items (please don’t include items that have expired or are in glass containers)

2. Place the bag by your mailbox and it will be delivered to a local food bank.

This is the 20th year that the Letter Carriers…

Join CityClub on June 6, 2012, at the Westin Seattle for a conversation with former Secretary of State and retired four-star Gen. Colin Powell. Powell will speak on the lessons that have shaped his life and career in public service. He also will introduce his new book, “It Worked for Me,” based on his principles of effective leadership.

Powell also is the founder and chair of the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service at the City College of New Work. Through the center…

Last Thursday’s Hunger Action Forum was the perfect precursor to this week being Hunger Action Week. One thing was clear from all of the large- and small-group sessions: It’s not just United Way of King County who’s talking about shining a light on hunger in our community.

Forum-goers talked about everything hunger: obesity and widespread access to nutritious food, summer meals for kids on subsidized school meal programs, cooking classes, community gardens, food delivery for seniors and…

With food bank use up 30%, the donation of nonperishable food items couldn’t have come at a better time! Whitepage.com employees decided that their participation in Hunger Action Week was going to be in the form of a food drive, and they collected quite the bounty in a very short time (just 2 weeks).  It was such a delight to help unload the fully packed Subaru on Sunday, March 18^th at the Microsoft Store in University Village. They had collected an assortment of items that…

Veterans Day is a bit of an anomaly of a holiday. Unlike its fellow Federal Holidays, Presidents Day and Columbus Day, that recognize people who have made important contributions to our country, Veterans Day is unique in that many of those being honored are still alive, and virtually all of us have some connection to them. That’s pretty neat if you think about it. Maybe it’s your uncle who served in Vietnam, or your little sister stationed overseas, or a parent of a…

One of my favorite things about working here at United Way of King County is hearing the stories from people that are out there doing good work.  11,000 volunteers worked at projects for United Way of King County’s Day of Caring on September 16, and I’ve had the pleasure of hearing about a number of their experiences.  I thought I’d share some of them with you from volunteers who have blogged about their day of volunteering  Here are some of the ones that I’ve found so far.  If you’ve got…

United Way celebrates the extraordinary volunteers who are doing more to make our community stronger. From preparing meals at a neighborhood food bank, to skipping lunch to read to kids at a pre-school, to organizing a beach cleanup, to contributing skills as a board member, graphic artist, or camp counselor, the range of voluntary efforts is immense. And so is the impact. A better community – it starts with you. And it often starts with volunteering.

Volunteer at Solid Ground’s Marra Farm

National Volunteer…

United Way of King County awarded AT&T the Spirit of Puget Sound Award—our top honor for corporate philanthropy—at the Spirit of Caring Celebration on March 8.

The Spirit of Puget Sound Award honors outstanding community involvement, sustained campaign excellence, and the promotion of volunteerism.

Here are just a few reasons why we presented AT&T with this prestigious honor:

…

Help us connect more people to the great volunteer opportunities in the community!

Every day, the United Way website has hundreds of ways to get involved, including:

reading to refugee kids in daycare

stocking up a neighborhood foodbank with local produce

helping an arts group make smarter use of Facebook

cooking the evening meal at women’s homeless shelter

restoring bird habitat along the Duwamish River

There’s a powerful way you can help us spread the word:

Put our Volunteer Search Widget…

The following article is from Talk about Kids, a monthly newsletter that focuses on early learning. To subscribe to Talk about Kids or view past issues click here.

The Washington state legislature is back in session and our representatives have been charged with approving a plan to balance the current state budget and approving a budget for the next biennium (2011-2013). In both cases, there will be devastating cuts to health and human services that will deeply affect the most vulnerable people in our community, including…