Inside Scoop

The Board of Directors of the United Fund of Talbot County voted to allocate $230,000 to 14 member agencies for its 2019-20 campaign, an 8% increase over the prior year. These agencies qualified by demonstrating how their requests for funds would be used to meet the health and human services needs of the underserved in Talbot County. The original amount requested by the 14 applicant agencies was $256,000.

“Due diligence was again exercised this year by the Agency Review Committee volunteers during each agency application review.  Thanks to their stellar efforts, the committee’s reviews and recommendations facilitated the allocation deliberations,” said Agency Review Committee chair, Leslie Stevenson. “In addition to myself, this year’s committee members included Joe Anthony, Ron Lee, Adrienne Rudge, Butch Townsend, JoRhea Wright and Jim Vermilye,” she concluded. The United Fund of Talbot County is the only local philanthropic organization that for over half a century of fundraising has successfully raised over $14 million to assist non-profit health and human services charities in Talbot County.

The agencies selected for the 2019-20 campaign are

Boy Scouts in Talbot County. $3,000 to deliver scouting programs to both existing scouting troop units and at-risk youth through its outreach efforts.

Chesapeake Center. $5,000 to fund an awareness building campaign and event that promotes the importance of full community inclusion for individuals with disabilities.

Delmarva Community Services. $18,000 to fund general transportation resources with a more comprehensive program that services more rural Talbot County areas.

Foundation of Hope. $10,000 to help young girls lead productive lives in their communities by providing cultural, social and educational development programs.

Girl Scouts. $3,000 to provide a host of programs for local girls to build character and skills for success.

Imagination Library of Talbot County. $10,000 to expose children birth to age 5 with a literature and vocabulary rich environment, promoting reading readiness through the monthly provision of high quality, age-appropriate books.

Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence. $20,000 to provide advocacy and support for victims of domestic violence.

Neighborhood Service Center. $60,000 to serve the total family, addressing housing, food, utilities, eviction and parent/child life skill workshops to enhance financial learning among local low-income residents.

Partners in Care. $15,000 to empower older adults to remain independent in their homes using the concept of service exchange to provide transportation and handyman services.

Positive Strides. $20,000 to provide a year-round therapeutic horseback-riding program for children and adults with learning and physical limitations.

St. Martin’s Ministries. $15,000 to help to feed, clothe and financially assist impoverished clients, building their self-esteem and self-sufficiency.

St. Michaels Community Center. $30,000 to provide programs and services to the Bay Hundred Community, from toddlers to seniors.

Tilghman Area Youth Association.  $15,000 to provide quality afterschool enrichment programs for the Island’s youth, inclusive of scholarships for those in need.

United Needs & Abilities. $6,000 to provide counseling, resources and advocacy for adults with development disabilities.

The United Fund of Talbot County (UFTC) will be accepting applications until April 15, 2019, from qualified non-profit agencies in Talbot County requesting funds from its 2019-20 campaign.

To qualify, agencies must be registered 501 (c) 3 organizations; grant requests should seek to fund programs or initiatives that address the health and human services needs of individuals and families in Talbot County, and must demonstrate the agency’s fit with the United Fund charter to benefit underfunded and underrepresented Talbot County residents.

Any first time applicants who wish to be considered as potential participants in the upcoming campaign are requested to submit a one-page document no later than March 1, 2018 that explains how their agency fits with the United Fund mission, and how the services they provide their clients are different from those provided by other agencies serving the Talbot County community.

Agencies accepted to participate in the 2019-20 campaign must also agree not to fundraise during September, October, and November when the United Fund’s campaign is underway. For an application, write the United Fund of Talbot County office at P.O. Box 741, Easton, MD 21601; request an application on-line at uftc@unitedfund.org or call 410-822-1957.  All applications must be received at the United Fund office by April 15, 2019.

As a component of Delmarva Community Services, Delmarva Daybreak has served Talbot County residents in Adult Medical day Care since July 2000. The individuals served from Talbot County are medically fragile, needing nursing care and monitoring to assist them in staying as healthy as possible and to continue to live in the community. Thanks to funding from the United Fund, Talbot County clients are offered life with dignity as well as a caring, friendly environment. One such client is Ms. Bowser, who enjoys the Adult Medical Day Care facility with its daily activities, therapeutic exercise, socialization, and health monitoring by a caring, trained professional staff a few times a week. Delmarva Daybreak also provides nutritious meals and snacks as well as transportation to and from the center. With United Fund support, Talbot County clients can attend the center as well as afford the co-pay for much needed medications.

Over the past five years, 60,000 books have found their way into little hands and onto parents’ laps!  Grants received from the United Fund, over the past 3 years, were used to purchase 9,000 of those books.

So how do those books get into those little hands?  Imagination Library mails a high quality, age-appropriate book, each month to 1,250 children in Talbot County, starting at birth and ending in the month of their fifth birthday, at no cost to their families! By age five, a child registered at birth will have a library of 60 great books including classics like The Little Engine that Could, Corduroy, and a bilingual version of The Snowy Day as well as newer titles like Violet the Pilot and 2016 Newberry Medal and Caldecott Honor Book, Last Stop on Market Street. 

Early language development and literacy skills begin in the first five years of life and are closely linked to a child’s earliest experiences with books and stories.  Reading to a baby sparks brain development and creativity.  When parents read to their children, they are laying the building blocks for early literary skills.  Listening to a story helps children learn the difference between “real” and “make-believe,” while nurturing their imagination and curiosity.  They develop social and communication skill that form the foundation for healthy self-esteem and academic success.

Children are not the only ones who benefit greatly from being read to; reading together benefits grown-ups too! This bonding time offers a chance to discover a world of new ideas and experiences, especially important for those families who may have limited access to the learning opportunities so many others have readily available.  There is a special kind of feeling that comes from a child sitting on a parent’s lap, a feeling of love, which will always be associated with reading.

More than 15,000 books will be making their way to Talbot County mailboxes over the next year.  We are so grateful for United Fund’s commitment to provide 4,800 of those books!  On behalf of all the children enjoying special moments with special books, thank you to everyone who donates to the United Fund!

Imagination Library of Talbot County is an affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and a component fund of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. To learn more about this program or to register your child, please visit ILTC at www.imaginationlibraryoftalbotcounty.org.

Between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018, MSCFV served 461 victims of family violence and their 670 children, twenty percent whom were from Talbot County.  The United Fund of Talbot County provides financial support so a Case Manger can work with victims in Talbot County.

This Case Manager works with a Talbot County client to help the client address immediate crisis needs by providing crisis counseling, safety planning, information & referral, emergency shelter and accompaniment to protective order hearings. Next they assist the client’s movement to the Transition Stage by helping clients access MSCFV’s Economic Empowerment Center, Mental Health Therapy, Support Groups and Short and Long-term Housing services. And finally, the Case Manager’s job culminates when the client has reached self-sufficiency, clearly communicating the path from “Where you were…Where you are…Where you are going”.

Measuring client outcomes is an important part of MSCFV’s program. Through client surveys and advocate assessments, the agency monitors if the services they provide are helping family violence victims plan for their safety, understand their rights and options, and take the next step in ending the violence in their lives.

Hotline calls are another important crisis service, providing victims with support and actionable information about MSCFV resources, their legal rights, and possible next steps for ending the violence. During these calls, most clients received assistance with safety planning. information about MSCFV resources, and advice on their legal rights and options. The vast majority of victims achieve positive outcomes in these calls, including a better understanding of the cycle of violence, a better understanding of their rights and options, and a readiness to take the next step in ending the violence.

There are also positive outcomes in MSCFV’s Economic Empowerment Center program. When comparing the Ability to Meet Basic Needs scale at program exit to the one clients completed on program entry, 90% showed improvement in their family’s financial situation.  They were able to meet basic expenses, save, meet unexpected expenses, improve their standard of living and decrease financial worry.

Launched in 1998 with only a handful of volunteers, Character Counts Mid Shore started the Winners Walk Tall Program at Easton Elementary in the 2^nd and 3^rd grades.  Currently, CCMS offers the mid shore area schools positive lessons in grades Pre-K through 12, taught by trained and dedicated coaches. Character education never goes out of style.  While topics have changed due to social issues, the Six Pillars of Character remain as a solid foundation for students at all grade levels.

Character Coaches are the friendly face, the mentor, the consistent figure in students’ lives throughout the school year. Today’s children live with many big issues that provoke fear and anxiety and they tend to discuss these worries openly with their coaches. Presenting character lessons that are current and relevant make all the difference.  Character Counts provides students with the necessary tools to make the right choice.  “Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you” – John C. Maxwell.

Thanks to the continued support of the United Fund of Talbot County, Character Counts Mid Shore celebrates 20 successful years in Talbot County.

The Board of Directors of the United Fund of Talbot County voted at their June meeting to allocate $213,300 to 15 member agencies for its 2018-19 campaign. These agencies qualified by demonstrating how their requests for funds would be used to meet the health and human services needs of the underserved in Talbot County. The original amount requested by the 16 applicant agencies was $299,000.

“This year’s Agency Review Committee continued to exercise due diligence when reviewing each agency application.  The stellar job they did in their reviews and recommendations facilitated the allocation deliberations,” said Agency Review Committee co-chairs, Chuck Mangold and Leslie Stevenson. The United Fund of Talbot County is the only local philanthropic organization that for over half a century of fundraising has successfully raised over $14 million to assist non-profit health and human services charities in Talbot County.

The agencies selected for the 2018-19 campaign are

BAAM (Building African American Minds). $10,000 to provide programs that enrich the academic and social development of young African American boys.

Boy Scouts in Talbot County. $3,000 to deliver scouting programs to both existing scouting troop units and at-risk youth through its outreach efforts.

Character Counts!. $10,000 to promote character development in the county’s public schools as well as conducting workplace ethics classes in the business community.

Delmarva Community Services. $10,000 to fund adult medical daycare and intervention and travel expenses for medically dependent and frail Talbot County clients as well as general transportation services.

Foundation of Hope. $7,000 to help young girls lead productive lives in their communities by providing cultural, social and educational development programs.

Girl Scouts. $3,000 to provide a host of programs for local girls to build character and skills for success.

Imagination Library of Talbot County. $10,000 to expose children birth to age 5 with a literature and vocabulary rich environment, promoting reading readiness through the monthly provision of high quality, age-appropriate books.

Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence. $20,000 to provide advocacy and support for victims of domestic violence.

Neighborhood Service Center. $55,000 to serve the total family, addressing housing, food, utilities, eviction and learning needs of local low-income residents.

Partners in Care. $9,500 to empower older adults to remain independent in their homes using the concept of service exchange to provide transportation and handyman services.

St. Martin’s Ministries. $15,000 to help to feed, clothe and financially assist impoverished clients, building their self-esteem and self-sufficiency.

St. Michaels Community Center. $24,800 to provide services to the Bay Hundred Community, including after-school enrichment programs for local youth and teens.

Talbot Special Riders. $15,000 to provide a year-round therapeutic horseback-riding program for children and adults with learning and physical limitations.

Tilghman Area Youth Association.  $15,000 to cover scholarship costs for children unable to pay for afterschool programs.

United Needs & Abilities. $6,000 to provide counseling, resources and advocacy for adults with development disabilities.