Destany Stevens, left, and Kat Richards decorate the boardroom Thursday at the United Way of Androscoggin County office in Lewiston. Stevens, an employee of TD Bank and Richards, an employee of L.L.Bean, were decorating the office for the United Way’s 90th birthday celebration Friday. “We are having cake for breakfast Friday,” said Joleen Bedard, executive director of the United Way of Androscoggin County. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

In describing the history of the United Way, Joleen Bedard likes to start with a little story. 

“In 1887,” she tells her audience, “a Denver woman, a priest, two ministers and a rabbi got together…” 

What sounds like the beginning of a standard bar joke is instead a brief history of the United Way itself. That history is long, indeed, and here in Androscoggin County, the local chapter is celebrating its own part of it — 90 years worth, to be precise. 

Bedard, executive editor of the United Way of Androscoggin County, knows a lot about that history. 

“Our local United Way started in October 1932 and was known as the Community Chest of Auburn & Lewiston,” Bedard recently told the Rotary, “then became the United Fund of Auburn/Lewiston in May, 1959 and finally United Way in September of 1973. We’ve had a lot of changes, and have always been here to serve the community. One of the major changes includes taking on Oxford County as part of our geographic territory in 2019.“ 

The United Way is best known for its annual funding campaign and for the giant thermometer it uses to track donations. And when they go about asking for those donations, the United Way needs to demonstrate their value to the local community.  

Bedard is prepared for this, too. 

“Campaign revenue is a very important part of our work at United Way,” she told the Rotary, “but we are really a community impact organization.” 

To this, she adds examples of their work, including the United Way’s leading the charge to raise funds in 2013 after a rash of five fires in downtown Lewiston left several families destitute. 

“Gov. Lepage called upon United Way to be the lead fundraiser in the effort to house and clothe 200 people left homeless, 100 of which were New Mainers,” Bedard told the group. “United Way raised $250,000. This was a collective impact effort — it was United Way, the city of Lewiston, Catholic Charities, and many other partners that provided solutions and results for the families impacted by the disaster.” 

She tells them about the United Way’s reaction to COVID, which started in March 2020. The United Way’s response to that was immediate. They held a telethon with a local television news station and raised $650,000 statewide. Of that, the local United Way raised close to $250,000, with 100% invested back into the community. 

“We funded everything from Zoom platforms, cleaning supplies, food for pantries, purchased freezers for food banks and so much more,” Bedard said. 

There are a whole lot of other examples of the United Way’s efforts to help those in need: the 211 referral services, community fundraisers like Touch-a-Truck, a backpack program to benefit 1,500 kids in Androscoggin and Oxford counties and a range of other efforts to support community programs of all kinds. 

“This is what the United Way team does time and time again,” Bedard wrote for the group’s 2021 annual report. “Whether it is a new threat like a pandemic or an ongoing threat like homelessness or food insecurity, United Way is here to provide support to ensure that we can face these issues head on.” 

While they celebrate their own work over the past nine decades, they also celebrate a group of people who are not always known to the public but who are nonetheless essential to the United Way’s work: the donors, supporters and volunteers. 

One major United Way donor is Ray Martel, owner of Spiller’s Reprographics in Lewiston, who began serving on the nonprofit’s board around the time the Twin Towers were attacked in New York in 2001. He’s no longer on the board, but he continues to support the United Way, and there’s one good reason for that: when Martel gives money to the United Way, he knows that the bulk of that money is going to be used to help specific people in need. 

“It’s probably the only organization that we have in the area that will analyze the needs of the community,” Martel said. “If a nonprofit wants funds from the United Way, they have to put together what their plan of action is going to be — what results they expect and what have you. That will be reviewed by a board specifically for the purpose of saying, ‘OK, we agree and we’ll fund this much, or we don’t agree and you don’t get anything.” 

Martel has also been impressed over the years with the percentage of money raised that go directly to the community people the United Way is serving. There is very little, perhaps 8%, used for administrative costs. 

“Which is remarkable,” Martel said. 

He also appreciates how the United Way sets out to help as many people as possible through their programs and fundraisers. 

“It’s not just one person, one desire to do one thing,” Martel said. “It is important that they look to see what else is in the community. In other words, if you have a particular cause, and you say, I want to raise money for getting clothes for people that are homeless or whatever, that’s all well and good. That’s all they want. Whereas with the United Way, they see people who need oil, people who need clothes and bibs, diapers and food. They see the whole community, so that when they decide on one, they take all of it into consideration.” 

What is the United Way staff doing to celebrate their 90th on Friday?

Well, Bedard has a cabinet meeting with local volunteers that day and they plan to have cake for breakfast. After that? Back to work with some parting words from Bedard on the significance of the day. 

“The United Way board, volunteers and staff are very excited to reach this milestone of reaching our 90th anniversary,” Bedard said, “and we could not have done it without our generous supporters. Thank you to everyone that volunteers and contributes to this very important, long-standing community organization. United Way of Androscoggin County will continue to build powerful partnerships that improve outcomes for children, families and individuals in need. We consider it an honor to have served our community for the last 90 years and we forward to creating lasting impact in the years to come.” 

To donate, volunteer or find more information, visit unitedwayandro.org