Sequim Gazette Editorial and Letters to the Editor

A year ago, the Sequim Gazette gave me an opportunity to tell you about an exciting project of United Way of Clallam County called Listening to Community VOICES. I am back to give you an update on the progress of this project.

Since last September, more than 350 residents of the county (125 from

Sequim) have come together in small group sessions to share their ideas on what this community needs.

Indeed, United Way is listening to the people it serves. We are gathering information from people countywide, from all walks of life, from Sequim and Diamond Point to the West End.

"VOICES will help us to identify significant problems and then we can work on changing outcomes in the community - if we can address the underlying causes, we can, in effect, solve the problems permanently," says Jody Moss, executive director of United Way of Clallam County.

The VOICES Project will continue into the fall of 2009. Volunteers are working hard to organize the small groups, called Listening Sessions. While 350 participants is a substantial number representing about 0.5 percent of the county population, we still want to hear from many more people.

The listening sessions focus on quality of life issues and the discussion centers on these four core questions:

_ What are your dreams, goals and hopes?

_ What has helped you the most to reach your dreams, goals and hopes?

_ What has kept you from reaching your dreams, goals and hopes?

_ What do you need now to reach your dreams, goals and hopes?

When the Listening to Community VOICES sessions have been completed, the information gathered will be analyzed and reported back to the community in various forms. United Way plans to use the data to identify one or more priority issues and then develop an initiative around those issues.

Besides gathering information about community needs, another goal of the project has been to promote focus groups as an empowering and interactive means of effecting change in the community. The feedback that we have received about the sessions so far has been overwhelmingly positive. More than 95 percent of the participants viewed the sessions favorably with comments like "excellent," "insightful," "informative," "helpful," "thought-provoking," "enjoyable" and "worthwhile."

One respondent said, "I came in not having any idea of what to expect or what it was really about. The Voices Project was the most informative experience I ever participated in."

What participants liked best about the sessions was people opening up and sharing their personal goals, getting to know and understand others better, having the opportunity to voice their opinions and learning about their shared values.

The sessions generally last no more than two hours and are completely confidential. They are facilitated by Clallam County volunteers who have been trained by United Way of Clallam County.

I would like to encourage the residents of Sequim to think about becoming involved in a VOICES listening session, if you have not already done so. You will walk away with the feeling that you have done something good for the community, that perhaps, in some way, you will have made a difference in the life of someone who lives near you or even in your own life sometime in the future.

We have listened to many different groups of people already - seniors at the senior center, high school students, young people at the Boys & Girls Club, young parents, health care givers, members of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, church members, Rotarians, business and professional people, just to name a few. If somehow we have missed you or you have missed us, we want to give you the opportunity to have your voice heard.

If you would like to participate in a session or, better yet, to organize a listening to community VOICES session with your colleagues, friends, neighbors, church members or associates, please call United Way at 457-3011 or e-mail pierle.voices@yahoo.com.

We hope to deliver the report of our findings within the next few months.

Lynn Pierle coordinates the Community Voices Project for United Way of Clallam County.



Special ways

to mark 9/11



Everyone likes an opportunity to give back to their community and it is especially fun to do it in a group. The premise behind United Way's Day of Caring is to give community members this chance and also to recognize the kick-off to the annual United Way fund drive.

Also, many United Ways across the country have chosen Sept. 11-12 as days to take action in their communities, to honor those who lost their lives or were hurt by Sept. 11, 2001.

This year, each community has one or more Day of Caring activities and volunteers are welcome to join in. Many companies are gathering a corps of volunteers and adopting projects.

Remembrance services: At 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 11, there will be a brief remembrance service in Sequim at the flag pole at 815 W. Washington St. Community members are invited to attend the remembrance programs whether they plan to volunteer or not.

Days of Caring projects: Sequim projects are scheduled at:

_ 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 11, and Saturday, Sept. 12, to clean up, landscape and paint at First Teacher, 220 W. Alder St., Sequim.

_ 9 a.m. Saturday for a major cleanup at the Sequim Food Bank, 144 W. Alder St., Sequim.

_ 9 a.m. Saturday, building a storage shed for the Sequim schools soccer program. Volunteers should meet in the north field at Hendrickson Road and North Sequim Avenue. Bring work gloves and carpentry hand tools.

Volunteers working in Port Angeles, Forks and Sekiu, as well as Sequim, will launch the United Way 2009-2010 annual

fund drive.

This year's campaign theme is "Live United ... Now More Than Ever" with a goal of $1,100,000.

Volunteer campaign co-chairmen are Jack Marshall, Blake Sand & Gravel; and Pam Marshall, Peninsula Children's Clinic.