This blog post was written by Dr. Catherine Cushinberry, United Way of King County interim CEO.

As some of you know, I grew up in Memphis, TN, the daughter of a lifelong educator. The teaching profession was highly regarded when I was growing up in the early 1980s. I was surrounded by teachers.

One of those teachers was my pastor’s wife, Julia Scott Ward. We affectionately referred to her as “Mother Ward.” She taught elementary education. She was retired when I heard about some of her stories in the classroom, and one stands out to me and has been with me throughout my career.

She shared how she had a student who would come to school every day and go to sleep during instructional time. Every. Single. Day. The child couldn’t stay awake. Mother Ward was concerned about the student and wanted to understand what impacted the child’s ability to stay awake. With some exploration, she learned that so much was happening in the child’s home in the evening that they couldn’t sleep and would stay up all night.

Her fix? She made a place in the classroom for the child to nap at the start of each day and then engaged the student in learning.

That story stuck with me because it reminded me that when our basic needs are unmet, we find it hard to add much else..

 It keeps in front of my mind the utmost importance of providing children, youth, families, and adults of all ages with access to basic needs. That’s how they have the strength and ability to persist in hard times or to stay awake to navigate to their hopes and dreams.

Over the past month, I’ve had the honor of listening, learning, and partnering with the team at United Way of King County. Each day, I am more grateful than the day before for the ways these passionate and dedicated United Way team members show up, whether in direct service or through support of partnering organizations to provide the respite and a measure of peace of mind to our neighbors across the county so they can be fueled to take more steps forward.