United Way of Southwest Michigan Taps the “Power of One” to Help All of Us Live United
I am pretty lucky to get a front-row seat to our community’s immense generosity for a living. Every day at United Way of Southwest Michigan, I watch a single donation, a lone volunteer hour, or one quick email advocating for working families to a legislator snowball into something the whole region can feel. That’s the “Power of One.” And when thousands of individual choices line up in the same direction, we Live United—neighbors helping neighbors in Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties.
It happens in ways you can see and ways you can’t. Maybe you’ve volunteered to stuff backpacks at the Cass County School Supply Spectacular, steered a wobbly cardboard canoe in Rock the Boat Presented by Honor Credit Union, or raked a stranger’s yard on a cold November morning at Rake a Difference. Those are Volunteer United moments, and they’re fun on their own—but they also help us support more than 70 local programs: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the 2-1-1 helpline, free tax prep through VITA, emergency housing grants, and dozens more. One act of service lands farther than you’d ever guess once United Way starts connecting the dots.
At United Way, our focus is squarely on the ALICE population—Asset Limited, Income Constrained, yet Employed households that sit just above the poverty line and just one crisis away from slipping below it. When an ALICE family steadies, the benefits ripple outward: classrooms calm down, businesses keep reliable staff, and neighborhoods breathe easier. That’s why our board and volunteer impact team will be hard at work over the next 9 months to create a more nimble funding cycle that meets the changing needs of the community faster.
To be perfectly frank, all of that takes money, and the biggest chunk arrives during the Workplace Campaign Season, which kicks off this month and runs through the end of the year. Hundreds of companies and organizations across the area will invite employees to pledge a few dollars each pay period through easy giving opportunities like Payroll Deduction. Spreading a gift across the year keeps it budget-friendly and painless for you. For employers, the process is turnkey: download the Workplace Campaign Toolkit, pick a kickoff date, and lean on our campaign team for everything from sample emails to pledge forms. Payroll or Corporate giving isn’t just convenient—it’s United Way’s primary fundraising engine, powering most of our work thanks to the commitment of employers large and small, including Whirlpool Corp., Indiana MIchigan Power & AEP, Corewell Health, and more.
Here’s the crazy part: five dollars a week from one employee feels tiny, but multiply it across an entire payroll and you’re suddenly covering months of impact, like mental-health sessions for teens or shipping hundreds of new picture books to preschoolers. That’s the Power of One in action.
Of course, giving isn’t the only lane. Advocacy—an email to Lansing about childcare affordability or a social-media share on living-wage bills—can stretch every donated dollar even further. And if hands-on help is more your style, Volunteer United’s calendar is packed year-round. Whether you’re crunching tax returns through VITA, reading with preschoolers, or hauling appliances at the Whirlpool Appliance Sale, your one shift stitches neatly into thousands of others to form a safety net the size of Southwest Michigan.
I’ve been asked, “Doesn’t my donation feel like a drop in the bucket?” Honestly, no—because we’re not emptying our drops into a bottomless well; we’re pouring them into a carefully strategized impact plan that keeps filling cups as fast as they empty. When one person moves, the system moves. That’s Living United.
If you’d like to see just how far your own drop can travel, visit UWSM.org and click “The Power of One.” You’ll find quick links to start or renew a workplace campaign, sign up for the next volunteer shift, or explore the advocacy issues closest to your heart. You can also contact our Campaign Director Zack East at zack@uwsm.org if you have questions about how you or your company can make a big impact. One step is all it takes to join the chain reaction. And when enough of us take that step, everyone in Southwest Michigan moves forward together.
