United Way serves close to home

Barbara Palombi, director of Grand Valley's Counseling Center, sees firsthand the kind of issues the university’s students grapple with. Sometimes, she said, those issues can be surprising. Frequently, she connects students with programs that are funded by the United Way.

“I think a lot of times our students have concerns that we don’t know about and wouldn’t expect them to have,” Palombi said. “We have students coming in with a lot of different needs.”

Sometimes students run into a financial crisis and need food, Palombi said. Others need help caring for children or aging parents; others have problems finding housing. United Way funding is the backbone for many of the programs that help deal with those issues.

“United Way gives me a chance to make a contribution to the life of others,” Palombi said. “Maybe I don’t have the time to do the volunteer work and to go out and work in some of these agencies, but my financial support allows me to make that contribution so they can make a change.”

Palombi, who uses a wheelchair, said part of her motivation is personal.

“When I had polio, my family didn’t have a lot of resources,” she said. “These agencies helped my family to get me the resources that I needed in order to have medical equipment and have surgeries — to have the things that I needed in order to improve my health. Without these types of agencies, I may not be here today being able to do what I’m doing. So in some ways United Way allows me an opportunity to pay back for the assistance my family and I received at a time when we really needed it.”

Reaching out to individuals through United Way can help break the cycles that keep from living up to their potential, she added. “That’s another thing people may not think about is how much of a difference it may make in a person’s life,” Palombi said. “Giving them assistance at that moment of crisis may allow them to make some choices and have a different kind of life.”

Photo by Bernadine Carey-Tucker
Barbara Palombi refers many students who need services to United Way. Grand Valley’s United Way campaign will begin October 1.