Guest blogger Anne Disabato recently moved to Seattle from Chicago in order to spend more time outdoors (and work for Microsoft). Anne also volunteers with United Way on the Emerging Leaders Marketing Committee. Read on to get the inside story around volunteering with the Emerging Leaders.

United Way is focused on three things:

• ending homelessness,
• meeting people’s basic needs,
• and giving kids an equal chance to succeed.

I was particularly excited for the Emerging Leaders project at Eastside Baby Corner in May because it was the first time I had participated in a project focused on all three of United Way’s goals.

Eastside Baby Corner helps kids thrive by providing the basic necessities that every kid needs. They help families by relieving the stress of wondering where their babies’ next meal is coming from or whether they can afford shoes for their first grader. They rely on volunteers to help sort donations into customized orders of food, clothing, strollers, diapers, beds and other goods for low-income and homeless kids living in our community.

We spent the morning cleaning toys, sorting donated clothes by size and style, and building the custom kits. All the emerging leader volunteers were enthusiastically reminiscing about the toys they played with when they were kids, many a lot less high tech than the toys available now! While clothes and toys are only one piece of making sure kids get an equal start, United Way Emerging Leaders are helping move things in the right direction.