By Leroy Triggs
Published: Aug. 3, 2022 at 10:44 PM CDT
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - Heartland United Way held its annual ‘Tour of Agencies,’ introducing locals and nonprofit leaders to 17 nonprofits under the United Way umbrella. Attendees rode a bus around Grand Island learning how to connect, volunteer, and serve their community.
“There are several things I hope the public gets from this visit, said Allie Remm, Public Relations for Heartland United Way. “First of all, I hope that they learn a lot and can apply it to their own jobs. There are a lot of people here today who are passionate about the community and helping people in need. Sometimes it’s just knowing which services are available, which makes a huge difference.”
Remm also hopes attendees will share information about the agencies with people in their lives, encouraging them to volunteer time in their community. Many of those in attendance were first-time riders on the tour.
“It’s been really good because a lot of times when we are assisting people it’s financially or with mental health things,” said Sherri Probasco, Program Director at Grace Cancer Foundation. “When we run out of our assistance, we’re able to refer them to other agencies and this gives us a good view of what else is out there that we can refer people to.”
Leaders like Probasco, also use events like this to network and learn about the people that run other nonprofits who also came along for the bus ride..
“Aside from all the places that we’re touring, it’s nice to see all the people on the bus as well so making connections with those people; as well as learning where they’re from and so just making a lot of connections there, said Probasco.
A big highlight of this year’s ‘Tour of Agencies’ was the amount of outreach, which blew rider expectations away.
“Biggest takeaway is that we live in a community that we live in a really amazing community with a lot of resources for people from all walks of life. It’s really just exciting for me to see what just a generous community that we have and a lot of people that are very passionate about what they do,” said Probasco.
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