Local opinion: United Way uses your donations locally

Sep. 22--Some local politicians want to cut city and county budgets and take away funding for nonprofit groups.

They don't think taxpayer money should go to nonprofits, which provide essential services on shoestring budgets that no government can match. The arguments amount to nonsense, to be honest, and show their lack of knowledge of how public and private partnerships can work to improve quality of life in Southern Middle Tennessee.

Spring Hill Mayor Rick Graham had to step in and save the city from the embarrassment of taking away money from bedrock organizations that have served the city and taxpayers with grace and excellence.

The Maury County Commission, desperate to save money rather than raise property taxes, considered cutting money to nonprofits earlier this year. Luckily, the idea was shelved.

With such a volatile backdrop, it's reassuring to know the community has the United Way. As I have written in previous years, the United Way is the best way to donate money for local charitable causes. It has been for decades because it checks out recipients thoroughly and has low overhead.

As in previous years, the United Way of Maury County opened its new campaign for 2020 in late August and early September. This time, Executive Director Laura Truelove chose to kick it off without the usual fanfare. There wasn't a breakfast, luncheon or coffee with the Chamber of Commerce to remind donors to renew their pledges or to convince new contributors to sign up for payroll deductions.

Instead, Truelove has been visiting with local businesses individually and making the United Way's case. Locally, United Way raises between $350,000 and $450,000 every year. Last year, it brought in $412,000.

"I have been touching base with my known businesses and pushing out into places, such as Mt. Pleasant, that have new plants," Truelove said. "I need to work for donations from Mt. Pleasant and Spring Hill in addition to Columbia.

"We have people ask when the campaign starts, I tell everyone it has started now. I don't advertise it much, but I will be going into businesses and meeting with groups until December for 2020 funding."

United Way will donate your money to 25 local nonprofits in 2020. Four new agencies applied and were accepted for contributions in 2020 -- Rise Up, Fresh Start, Columbia Counseling Ministries and Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee. Potential donors need to know their contributions work locally.

"I want people to understand their money stays here in Maury County," Truelove said. "I want people to know who we support. If people decide to give $1 or $10 or $100, I want people to know exactly where it goes. If you fill out a pledge card at work, I see it. It does not go to our national office."

I visited two of United Way of Maury County's most-effective agencies last week. The Place of Hope, an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center in Columbia, and the Hope Clinic, which provides free health care twice a week to anyone who needs it.

"We are a faith-based, licensed, 12-step alcohol and drug treatment facility," Clinical Administrator Cassie Gray said. "We offer our services free or change to those who come to us."

The facility treats an average of 35 people daily, including those who have sought the program voluntarily or have been referred by courts. It opened in April 2000 at 105 N. James Campbell Blvd.

"We receive some grants from the state and have many local partners, such as churches and businesses," Clinical Associate Delores Sleadd said. "A lot of our money comes from clients who have been here for treatment. They give back financially and volunteer for the front desk or our ministry."

Sleadd was one of the former clients who came to work at the Place of Hope.

"It gave me a chance to start over," Sleadd said. "I got here in 2005 and went through the program."

The United Way contributed $18,000 to the Place of Hope in 2019, Truelove said.

"This used to be a nursing home," Admissions Coordinator Terry Davidson said. "We have a lot more rooms than we actually use for patients. We have two people to a room.

"People come from all over," Davidson added. "They're mostly people who don't have insurance, can't get in somewhere else or want a faith-based program."

The average client stays for three months, compared to 28 days for similar treatment programs, Gray said. The facility has eight full-time staffers and 14 volunteers, she said, and about 112 patients have come through the clinic per year since it opened.

"This job is like a puzzle," said Gray, whose father, Mike Coupe is Place of Hope's co-founder and executive director. "You're trying to match the pieces to the right resources. Our clients are usually struggling with more than addiction. Many of them have financial and other social troubles.

"It's cool to see them begin to change their lives from a holistic mindset. I really enjoy that part of it," she added.

The Hope Clinic has been serving local residents without insurance since 2002. Dr. Charles Ball, who has practiced family medicine in Columbia for more than 30 years, opened the clinic as a labor of love. He and other doctors volunteer their time along with nurse Sara Peachey.

The clinic treats walk-in patients for everything from coughs and allergies to other more serious ailments. A regular clientele comes from the Place of Hope, which houses the Hope Clinic.

"If it's something that's complicated or if we need a specialist, I call Maury Regional or some of my friends at Vanderbilt," Dr. Ball said.

"It's amazing," Peachey said. "He [Dr. Ball] gets it done. He knows specialists we've never even thought about."

The United Way has been giving the Hope Clinic an average of $25,000 a year.

"The great thing about United Way is ... there are not government strings," Dr. Ball said. "We can talk about our beliefs and not have to watch out for Big Brother looking over our shoulder."

It's hard to imagine Columbia and Maury County without the Place of Hope and Hope Clinic.

Even more, it's hard to think of the struggles nonprofits would face without United Way.

Please give generously if you can. -- James Bennett is editor of The Daily Herald. His column mixes exclusive reporting, oldschool storytelling and original commentary. He's been a Tennessee Press Association first-place winner for editorial writing, news reporting, education reporting and public service since joining the paper in 2014. He's also been a Best of GateHouse winner for page design and sports writing. Contact him at jbennett@c-dh. net.

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