A Collaboration between United Way of Greater Mercer County, Trenton Vet Center, Mercer County Veterans Affairs, Family Guidance Center, Catholic Charities, Jewish Family and Children’s Service, and law firm Saul Ewing, LLP is currently developing an assistance program to provide counseling, legal and financial services to Mercer County military personnel and their families who have been mobilized, deployed or affected due to the U.S. Global War On Terrorism. In response to difficulties encountered by these families, several local agencies have banded together to help fill a basic need for information and to provide concrete assistance at a time when it is most needed. Program services will include:

Referral to social services, mental health counseling, and emergency financial assistance at Catholic Charities, Family Guidance Center, and/or Jewish Family & Childrens Services Veteran Administration counseling services at the Trenton Vet Center Pro bono legal services at Saul Ewing, LLP Consumer credit counseling at Family Guidance Center

Qualified staff will provide confidential information and referral services on a priority basis and provide direct emergency financial assistance, legal help or counseling. Referrals to this program will soon be available through the 2-1-1 helpline, or by contacting one of the above agencies directly.

For more information, please contact Patrick Cacacie, VP of Resource Investment at United Way of Greater Mercer County via 609.637.4910 or patrick.cacacie@uwgmc.org.

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United Way of Greater Mercer County would like to welcome 3 new staff members. Joining the Resource Investment department, Merlene I. Taylor and Elly (pronounced EE-Lie) S. Mateo will serve as Assistant Vice Presidents to Patrick Cacacie. Carolee A. Kueller, is our new Vice President of Major Gifts and will manage Leadership Giving and Major Gifts efforts.

Born in Jamaica, Merlene has an extensive history of positive community impact whether it be as a Program Director for the Lung Association in Brooklyn, NY or working for the City of Trenton Division of Health in their Maternal and Child Health Program. Some other points of interest: she has a passion for traveling, has been to Russia, Israel, studied in Scandanavia, and she is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity degree from Philadelphia Biblical University.

Over the past 20 years, Elly has broadened his work experience with supervisory roles, consumer and staff training, and program implementation and evaluation. He most recently comes to United Way from MAXIMUS, Inc. where his role as the Community Relations Manager helped to manage a program that impacted over 600,000 individuals throughout New Jersey. Elly is fluent in Spanish and is a graduate from the Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

Carolee graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. After working in the fashion merchandising field for six years, she accepted a position at the American Cancer Society in Monmouth and Ocean Counties as the Income Development Director, responsible for the fundraising efforts for the organization. In addition, she also served as a member of the Major Gifts Task Force helping to implement and launch a national Major Gifts Initiative. Her duties involved event planning, cultivating donors through Moves Management, grant writing, and capital campaign management. Carolee has most recently worked for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Monmouth and Ocean Counties as District Director. As Director, she managed staff development, budgeting, fundraising and two MDA service centers. She lives in Neptune, New Jersey and enjoys snow skiing, scuba diving, and traveling as much as possible.

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You probably know what your kids are watching on TV, but do you know how they react to what they have watched, or how their viewing manifests itself in their behavior? The answers to these questions are addressed in PEI Kids’ newest program ACT - Adults & Children Together - Against Violence, which is funded in part by United Way of Greater Mercer County. The program was designed by the American Psychological Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children and is based on telling scientific research. Developers examined research on youth violence prevention and drew from it specific indicators or assumptions that lead to violent behaviors. They also studied early childhood development and found that the ages from birth to 8 are critical years. This is a time during which children learn basic skills that have long-lasting impact on their lives. These two areas of research were used to formulate a curriculum with four main themes: social problem solving, anger management, discipline, and media literacy. These adult targeted themes are presented via workshops facilitated by trained presenters. In addition to learning about the themes, workshop attendees are taught how to conduct their own presentations. This “train-the-trainer” model intends to disseminate the information and tools of the ACT program to as many adults in the community as possible.

In September 2004, 34 community members from educational institutions, non-profits, government, and businesses, including Craig E. Lafferty, President of United Way of Greater Mercer County, gathered to learn more about the program and formed the Mercer County ACT Coalition. This Coalition provides advice, support and financial resources to the ACT - Against Violence Program with the hope of reducing violence among kids. For more information, please visit www.peikids.org.

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This past May, we had the fortune of receiving office supplies from MDAdvantage. Thanks to the help of Nina Gowaty and Tom Turner at MDAdvantage, several hundred pounds of office supplies were given to United Way to distribute among other nonprofit agencies in the area. Items such as binders, desk organizers, desk accessories, and dictation machines were among the many items that were donated.

Some of the nonprofit agencies who received supplies, include: Enable, PEI Kids, Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness, CASA, and AAMH. On behalf of all those who benefitted from MDAdvantage’s generosity and thoughtful caring for this community, "Thank you."

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On July 26th, somewhere between the hot grills and the hot sand, be sure to make some time to play the cool greens at Mercer Oaks East Golf Course to benefit United Way of Greater Mercer County and our efforts to better the Mercer County community!

With a shotgun start at 10:30 a.m., the outing will be played in a scramble format. Golfers will be served boxed lunches and in addition to a great round, participants will also have putting, closest to pin, longest drive, and other contests giving golfers an opportunity to win really great prizes. A lovely buffet dinner by Mercer Oaks Catering will conclude the day.

The proceeds from the golf outing will help fund our Community Impact Agenda, which focuses on three critical needs in Mercer County: Responding to Crises, Strengthening Individuals and Families, and Promoting Health & Well Being. Stories about how United Way helps the community can be found on our website at www.uwgmc.org/ci_stories.html.

There’s still time to register and we are actively seeking prize donations. If you would like to register to play, provide a sponsorship, or make a prize donation, please contact Jesse Starks at 609.637.4906 or email jesse.starks@uwgmc.org.

For more information on the web, please visit www.uwgmc.org/golf2005.html.

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On May 3, we celebrated our 11th year of operation at the Conference Center at Mercer County Community College. United Way was pleased to acknowledge the exemplary activities of certain companies by presenting our most coveted awards:

Spirit of Caring – In recognition of an organizations’ unique campaign spirit and overall commitment to United Way. Recipient: FMC Corporation

Spirit of Community – In recognition of a high level of service to our community through United Way. Recipient: Merrill Lynch LLC

Gayle B. Crews Award – Presented in memory of this Janssen Pharmaceutica employee to the coordinator who best exemplifies Gayle’s outstanding qualities of leadership, dedication and enthusiasm. Recipients: Jose S. Obando, Williams Gas Pipeline and Theresa M. Sarlo, Wyeth

Congratulations and thank you to all of our partners!