More than 100 young professionals gathered at a packed Merlot Wine Bar & Martini Lounge last Thursday night to beat the winter blues with food, drinks and a healthy dose of enthusiasm for their community. 

Cocktails with a Cause, an event sponsored by United Way of Greater New Bedford, was created to expose young people to local volunteer and philanthropic opportunities in their community.  The event offered attendees a chance to network and provided them with information on ways they can become involved in the community.

“We’re thrilled to have had such a fantastic turnout for this event,” said Michelle Hantman, United Way President.  “It illustrates that there is a desire among young people to become more invested in this community – they just may not know where to start.  That’s where we come in,” she said.

United Way of Greater New Bedford focuses heavily on volunteerism, administering the area’s only online volunteer matching database, Volunteer Solutions.  Accessible from United Way of Greater New Bedford’s website, the software matches individuals looking for volunteer work with nonprofits in need of support. 

“Volunteer Solutions is the single most effective way for someone to find local volunteer opportunities because they have access to listings from numerous organizations all in one place,” stated Caroline Cuccia, Volunteer Coordinator at United Way.

Ms. Cuccia also encouraged all local nonprofits to post their volunteer positions on the site, whether they have any prior association with United Way or not.  “This is a completely free service that any nonprofit is encouraged to use,” she said.

United Way of Greater New Bedford is a non-profit organization that was established in 1953.  United Way enables every member of the community to play an active role in local philanthropy by bringing together volunteers, donors, community leaders, and corporate partners to provide quality programs and initiatives that achieve positive results.  Its service area has a population in excess of 200,000.

United Way of Greater New Bedford

United Way of Greater New Bedford works to bring together individuals, businesses and organizations to address our community’s most urgent needs.  We believe that to truly improve lives in our region, we must act collectively to impact the critical issues affecting our neighborhoods – building a better community for us all.

Through an annual campaign, we provide funding to more than 60 programs at local health and human service agencies serving residents of New Bedford, Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Marion, Mattapoisett, Rochester and Wareham.  In addition, we administer a number of programs to address specific needs in our community.  Through the Hunger Commission of Southeastern Massachusetts we supply food to emergency soup kitchens and food pantries in Bristol County, while our Community Building Mini-Grants Program provides funding and skill-building opportunities to all-volunteer groups. In addition, our Volunteer Solutions database provides the only local online volunteer tool to match willing volunteers with nonprofits in need of support.

It takes our whole community working together to reach our goals.  Whether it requires fundraising, planning, or just getting people to work together, that’s what we do. 

We need your support!  Visit www.unitedwayofgnb.org to learn more about the different ways that you can help.

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