
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 9, 1995                   TAG: 9511100015
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEAR NEIGHBORS:

The YWCA of Roanoke Valley is proud that we are one of the original charter partner agencies of United Way of the Roanoke Valley. For 81 years, the YWCA has provided services to women, and their families. For close to 60 years, we have received support from United Way. With this continual support, the YWCA has been able to offer safe, affordable, transitional housing for homeless women, pregnant teens, and their children.

United Way was among the first to support the YWCA after-school and summer activities for teen women whose idle time makes them vulnerable to early sexual activity, and consequently, pregnancy. Through these and other YWCA programs, adult and teen women find a place where they are valued, where they receive life-skills training, and where they eventually fashion for themselves positive and constructive alternatives. Without United Way, our association could not offer the continuity of needed services that has been our rich tradition.

From child care to elder care, United Way partner agencies provide an array of life-long support services that respond to the needs of Valley residents. Through donor designation and donor restriction - called Donor Choice by United Way - contributors may pick and choose programs that best reflect their personal beliefs about how to address a whole host of needs and issues. Fortunately, the choice has been ours. In the absence of choice, the potential for finding just the right service that responds to a particular need is limited. In the absence of choice, the opportunity to actively participate in designing a vision for our future is denied.

Virginia Allison

President, YWCA of the Roanoke Valley

by CNB