Hunger Action Week is March 25th – March 30th. This is United Way of King County’s primary way of raising awareness about hunger in our community. Did you know that 1 in 5 children is at risk of hunger here in King County? To participate, all you have to do is sign up on our website. For every person that signs up, $5 will be donated to ending childhood hunger. You’ll receive one email per day during Hunger Action Week, detailing hunger in our community…

It was the Doodle Bug and Noodle Bug Celebration at Renton Head Start and ECEAP (Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program) on Thursday, March 07, 2013!  Students, parents and staff gathered in the gym to celebrate their accomplishment of reading a total of 24,000 minutes!  Literacy is very important at Renton Head Start and ECEAP and to promote reading the children and parents have been keeping track of their minutes reading together at home.  Their goal was to make Doodle Bug’s tail grow — and…

Thank you Amazom.com for donating $5000 to the Volunteer Reader Program (VRP) to help us connect with parents and engage them in reading and telling stories with their young children! The donation is being used to purchase books for a few of our VRP sites: Sherwood Forest Head Start in Federal Way, Olympic Hills Head Start in North Seattle, and Renton Head Start.  Books are going home with families as gifts to build home libraries and encourage more reading at…

On Jan. 15, United Way launched its biggest Free Tax Campaign ever.  Nearly 700 people joined the team as volunteer tax preparers, interpreters, intake volunteers and Bridge to Basics specialists. Together they’ve served hard-working, low income families by helping them access their greatest possible tax refunds and essential public benefits.

After just three weeks, here’s our first round of numbers:

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More than half of all kindergartners in our state are entering school without the social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills they need to be successful. Research shows that those children who start behind often stay behind. We’re looking for friendly, dependable people to read with young children one-on-one (not group reading) at select preschools throughout King County.

To learn more about this opportunity, please visit our webpage. If you are able to commit to this opportunity reading one hour a week for…

United Way of King County’s Free Tax Preparation Campaign helps families around King County file their taxes and get the refunds that they are eligible for.  With these refunds, families are able to meet basic needs that they might not otherwise be able to maintain.

Last tax season, volunteers completed more than 14,000 tax returns, getting more than $20 million in tax credits and refunds returned to members of our community.

Get involved! Sign up to be a tax return preparer at…

There are a gazillion ways for people to engage with organizations that serve our communities.  The challenge can be finding and connecting with an organization that can benefit from your time and talent – and aligns with your interests and schedule.  In the Seattle area, a number of “connector” organizations make it easier for individuals or groups to locate great volunteer opportunities.

United Way’s Volunteer Center recently brought together some of the other organizations that work locally to mobilize volunteers.   It provided a great…

As a first time volunteer, Kady took on the challenge of volunteering at two tax sites. Fluent in three languages (Mandingo, French, and English), Kady juggled the responsibilities of being a wife and mother of three children to volunteer at Highline Community College and Auburn tax sites. When Kady is not preparing taxes, she likes cooking, enterprising, and watching her favorite television show “Mad Money”.

Why did you choose to be a tax volunteer? What do you like about it?

At the beginning,…

The United Way of King County’s next Community Resource Exchange (CRE) is scheduled for October 18 at the Seattle Center. We need volunteers to spearhead supply drives to collect more than 2,000 items to be provided to participants that attend the CRE. Items that are needed include NEW socks and hygiene items (razors, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, lotion, etc.) as well as books (can be second-hand). Interested in leading a supply drive in your neighborhood, club, church, organization, and/or community? Register on our…

“Over 96,000 King County children utilize free or reduced lunch in school, an 8.5% increase since 2006. However in 2011 only 9.6% of these children who are eligible for free lunch accessed free summer meals.”

This was part of the training for the outreach events that the United Way of King County Summer Meals volunteers took part in. Volunteers attended a short training on how the Summer Food Service Program works, why we needed to do outreach, and what they were going to be doing…