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Welcome to Trident United Way


Trident United Way works to strengthen our community by focusing on education, income and health.

These are the building blocks of a good life -- a quality education that leads to a stable job,
enough income to support a family and good health.

By giving, advocating and volunteering, we can create a community where everyone has the opportunity for a good life.
That's how we LIVE UNITED.

Trident United Way maintains its unwavering commitment to measurable results in the programs we fund.
 That’s been our promise to donors for more than a decade.

 

Release Date: 7/1/2010

Calls for Help to 2-1-1 Hotline Up 19%


Charleston – The hard times continue for struggling families in the Lowcountry.  Calls to Trident United Way’s 2-1-1 Hotline, the place to call to give or get help, are up 19% in the second quarter of 2010 and 15% in the first half of the year.

 

Three quarters of the dramatic uptick involves calls for help with basic needs – food, rent, utilities, etc. Unfortunately, basic needs providers lack the resources to aid more than a small percentage of those in need.

 

Most of the callers either work, or did work until the job market tightened and left them unable to find new employment. The Lowcountry Food Bank reports it is providing food to 25% more families than it did just four years ago.

 

Increasingly, 2-1-1 phone counselors are hearing from working class families whose breadwinners have lost their jobs or had their hours cut and are now facing eviction and wondering what to do with their belongings while they scramble to avoid homelessness. They are caught in a downward cycle that is a product of a bad economy outside their control.

 

At the current rate, 2-1-1 Hotline will handle 53,000 calls for help this year.

 

2-11 Hotline is a free, confidential, 24 hour-a-day service of Trident United Way that serves nearly 50,000 requests for information and support each year.  Statistical information about 2-1-1 Hotline calls can be found at here.