Meet Lisa

“Hi, my name is Lisa and I came to United Way and have come to know them as a great support for me after something that happened in my life a year ago with my health.

I had been living a normal life, if you can call it normal, working part-time and semi-retired. And then I had a health catastrophe that turned everything upside down and had some serious problems with being able to do things for myself, several things for myself, and didn't have any supports, no family, no supports nearby. And was referred by Region 7 and the Department on Aging when I asked them about getting some assistance with some of the needs that I had for in-home support, and they referred me to the United Way.

And United Way has come in and assisted me with in-home services, which have been wonderful. They've helped me with things that I can't reach, or I can't do physically myself anymore and transportation needs. And the transportation needs have been very valuable.

We don't have enough transportation needs in this area and all of my doctors’ appointments are out of county and there aren't any transportation services in the county that will take you to out of county appointments. United Way will do that.

And that is so valuable to me. And I have so much gratitude for that because I can no longer drive. And I don't know what I would do without that.”

It's used as a way to define the population of people who earn above the Federal Poverty Level, receiving very little to no government assistance, while still struggling to make ends meet.