Holly Bolgar has been with Deloitte since 2004. She currently is a Manager in the Forensic & Dispute Services division of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP where she consults on construction related disputes and assists companies with evaluating and assembling their business insurance claims.

Holly decided to get involved with YLS because she wanted to participate with the United Way outside of donating through her company’s United Way Campaign. “I also wanted to learn more about the organization,” she said. “The Young Leaders Society is a great way to meet other young professionals that are interested in helping the community.”

Holly’s not new to community work, however. She formerly served as the Associate Board President for Meals on Wheels Chicago and currently sits on their Executive Board. At Deloitte, Holly headed the 2006 Tools for Schools drive for her department and participated in Adopt a Family, both programs that support Metropolitan Family Services.

United Way is thrilled to have Holly’s community and professional expertise on its YLS Steering Committee. “It’s exciting to be part of a program that allows people to participate in a multitude of ways, from social events to raising awareness and volunteering to donating money - whichever way they feel comfortable with.”

Holly is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a BSE in Mechanical Engineering.

Each holiday season United Way receives a multitude of requests from families in need. Unfortunately, this is the same time of year when its partner agencies begin to reach their financial and volunteer capacities after many months of service throughout the area.

Without a program to address these needs, the Volunteer Services team created the first United Way Adopt-A-Family Program. With close to $6,000 in donations from corporate partners, community residents, the board of directors and staff members, the wishes of more than 60 families were fulfilled through gift cards, toys, food and various other items.

“When Volunteer Services began to get the first calls from clients who had no where else to go for holiday assistance, we feared that we too might have to turn them away, but once we asked for help, we were overwhelmed by the response. Some departments and individuals at United Way gave more than $250 in gift cards for families and nearly every department gave something. United Way staff members are awesome!! Sixty families with a total of 250 children were given a much brighter and happier holiday because of our collective efforts.” - Joyce C. Marks, Volunteer Services.

Pictured; Top Right: Alanta Peterson with her two year-old daughter, Jessi at the South-Southwest Suburban United Way Adopt-a-Family event on December 14th. Above: Thank you card from the Hilliard family among many others received by United Way. Right: Jestal Gardley with her son, Darius Cockrell,and volunteer Kelly Harrison at the Catholic Charities warehouse during the United Way Adopt-a-Family event on December 22nd, 2006.

A special thanks goes to the Adopt-a-Family Donors:
AT&T, Carlson Environmenta, Khan Construction, Old Navy, Principal Financial Group, StrideRite, Target, The Gap, United Way Outreach Committees and United Way Staff Members.

Thank you to Catholic Charities for allowing us to use their warehouse base for the program event, as well as to the volunteers; Gail W. Clarvoe, Kelly Harrison and Michael Harrison, who helped with the distribution of holiday gifts.

Become a United Way Volunteer Site Reviewer and help make important program investment decisions. United Way Site Reviewers work closely with Impact Panels, which are responsible for making critical funding recommendations. As a Site Reviewer, you can influence United Way investments across Chicago, as well as increase your knowledge of nonprofit, community-based organizations and the issues affecting diverse Chicago communities.

The time commitment for participating as a site reviewer next year is approximately 10-15 hours between January 2007 and March 2007. Site reviewer responsibilities include:

• Participating in a training session on strategic focus and fund distribution

• Scheduling and attending agency site visits

• Working with site visit team members to efficiently conduct a thorough review of partner agencies’ management and operations

• Reporting review findings to team leader and/or staff.

Trainings will be held in January and you would be expected to complete at least two 3-hour site visits. If you would like to become a site review volunteer, please contact Gwendolyn Sims before December 15, 2006 at gsims@uw-mc.org or at (312) 906-2496.

United Way of Metropolitan Chicago was praised in a recent Chicago Tribune Editorial, titled Because You Can.

The November 13, 2006 editorial uses the example of Tribune columnist Eric Zorn’s witness of a fatal car accident to illustrate how people can often forget how fortunate they are. More importantly, the editor insists that those people blessed with health and happiness should take full advantage of their good fortunes and properly use their position to help others.

The editor then points out that although many nonprofit organizations are capable of using donations towards helping the community, few are more fair and generous at distributing their funds than United Way. To read the entire text of this editorial, please click here.