Your Funding Support through United Way of Rockbridge

We want and need YOU to help us enhance the lives of all young children living in the Rockbridge area. United Way of Rockbridge started Rockbridge Reads! as its own special community impact program to develop young readers and nurture a community of lifelong learning. Our Board members work with families, schools, and other organizations in the community to sponsor activities that promote early childhood literacy.

Here are a few of the projects we've tackled as part of Rockbridge Reads!

A Day in K

To prepare Pre-K children for the new experience of school, the United Way of Rockbridge (UWR) annually hosts “A Day in K” event. While especially for Pre-K children, all families with young children are invited to attend. This collaborative event involves UWR volunteers as well as staff and teachers from all elementary schools in Buena Vista, Lexington, and Rockbridge County. We were fortunate to have participation by the Rockbridge Regional Library's Bookmobile, a school bus for exploration, and police and fire departments to make the move into Kindergarten an exciting and anticipated experience. Children and their families participate in a variety of activities and crafts. Each rising Kindergartner receives a bag of school supplies, learning activities and a new reading book.

Christmas Basket Books

Coordinated annually by Rene’ and Bob Glidden with the generosity of several donors, United Way of Rockbridge provided a new, age-appropriate book to each child, from beginning readers through the age of 17, for the Rockbridge Christmas Basket delivery program. In 2021 a total of 1,181 books in support of literacy were purchased, an increase from previous years.

Book Circulating

United Way of Rockbridge (UWR) completed a successful of Community Children’s Book Drive during the fall of 2021. The Rockbridge community generously donated over 600 new and gently used children’s books. The books collected are used in UWR’s ongoing childhood development and literacy projects that provide books to community locations so children select books to take home, read and keep them.

The Community Book Drive coincides each year with the beginning of the United Way of Rockbridge Annual Fundraising Campaign. By supporting United Way, our community members fulfill our mission of “We work better when we work together.”

School Supplies for Remote Leaning

Remote learning during the pandemic created a number of challenges, such as how to provide supplies to children not in the classroom. This was not something included in previous school budgets. Many members of our community came together quickly to make the 2020 UWR “Super Heroes” school supplies drive successful. Partnering with the three school districts that provided a list of needed supplies due to COVID-19, the Ebenezer United Methodist Church women, the North Rockbridge Woman’s Club, the Secret Grannies, and student members of the Pro Bono Board at W&L Law School (as well as other groups) were instrumental in collecting 1,220 units and donating generous monetary gifts. Many businesses throughout the county sponsored collection boxes. In all, thirteen boxes of student and classroom supplies were donated to the three local school districts. This effort continued in 2021 and 2022 with a twist. Schools provided organizations like the United Way of Rockbridge with specific item or monetary requests which were then fulfilled. United Way of Rockbridge provided a monetary donation so that the schools could purchase specifically what they needed with their advantageous volume discounts.