On Saturday, March 20, 2021, the Board of Directors for UCS conducted its annual meeting gathering in-person for the first time in over a year at Rounders Too Pizza. At the meeting, the nominations of Brian Newton as President, Rev. Dr. Stephanie Weiner as President-Elect, Tonya Rine as Treasurer, and Teri Couts as Secretary were received and approved. We welcome them as our new Executive Committee and thank them for their continued dedication and service.

The meeting also saw strategic work on new board development and onboarding processes accomplished. Ideas and planning on how to acknowledge and celebrate UCS's thirty years of services were also discussed. It was a great meeting especially since everyone was together in person and fellowshipped with great food and conversation. We are a community of caring for all people.

We thank Dr. David Cousert for his six years of board services with United Caring Services. The meeting on March 20 was his last official meeting as a board member. David served on the Personnel Committee and the Executive Committee as President-Elect in 2018 and Board President in 2019.

We thank Brenda Phelps for her service as the most recent Board President. As a new accomplishment, Brenda's entire term of service had her presiding over virtual board meetings until the final one. Brenda continues to serve on the Operations Committee and will chair the Board Development Committee as the outgoing Board President.

Our Board of Directors is currently seeking four new board members with experience and/or interest in the areas of accounting, human resources, volunteer coordination, event planning, program development, property management, maintenance, or communication and marketing. We are also seeking committee members in these and other areas if you are not quite ready for board service. We accept and appreciate all of our volunteers in every capacity they serve. Let us know how you want to make a difference.

The Board of Directors supports the work of UCS and provides mission-based leadership and strategic governance. Serving as a UCS Board Member is an extraordinary opportunity for a person who is passionate about our mission and vision and who has volunteer experience, community involvement, and/or other board leadership experience. Interested in serving on a committee and/or the board? Please email the form on the left or give our Executive Director a call at (812) 422-0297 x6 to learn more.

Thanks to your commitment and generosity UCS surpassed our Fall Matching Campaign goal of $22,500 reaching $24,500. That's a total of $47,000 toward our mission to provide values-based, low barrier, sustainable, and high-quality homeless shelters, services, and solutions. If you'd like to support our 2021 Matching Campaign, let us know.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this season's White Flag possible. Since 2009, UCS with the support of Pigeon Township has provided this vital low barrier program to the community. This year, due to the pandemic, we needed new protocols, a bigger location, increased funding, and additional staff to make it happen and we did it!

Learning Moments: Providing adequate seasonal staff coverage is always a challenge, especially this year, which is why we moved White Flag back to UCS in late February. Next year, to improve our community of caring and coverage consistency we are considering providing White Flag every night for three straight months (Dec, Jan, Feb) - not just when it is cold. The cost to offer the program for 90+ days instead of 50+ days is the main hurdle. This possibility would benefit the community. We will keep you updated.

The Evansville Care Center (formerly the Crisis Care Center) has been in the news lately and interest in this incredible program is growing once again. The ECC will be a sobering drop-off and stabilization center for people experiencing an intoxication, substance use, and/or co-occurring mental health crises who need a more dignified, supportive, and/or cost-effective alternative than repeated emergency department visits, emergency medical services use, or incarceration can provide. Help UCS make the ECC a reality this year. Learn more HERE.

Volunteers and the compassion, dedication, leadership, and selfless service they provide every day for our guests are vital to United Caring Services' mission to provide values-based, low barrier, sustainable, and high-quality homeless shelters, services, and solutions.

Before the pandemic (with many now returning) hundreds of volunteers served meals, assisted guests, sorted clothes, helped with minor repairs, and served on committees and the board every year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our AMAZING volunteers continued to make a difference. Those who could not serve directly on the front lines dropped off needed items, had food catered in, prepared and dropped off meals, and served as advocates to ensure UCS could continue to successfully operate. Thanks to their support, UCS never closed and never stopped serving. Our mission continues!

Many individuals, families, organizations, secular clubs, and faith communities serve their community, practice their discipleship, and show love to their neighbors through UCS. One of the many faith communities that help make our Community of Caring better is the Islamic Society of Evansville (ISE). Let's get to know them.

The ISE has members from more than 26 countries and more than 150 families. It is a hard-working loving community that looks out for its neighbors. ISE started a mobile food pantry in October 2019 and it has become our primary channel through which we reach out to our neighbors who need our support. Physician members also started MASIHA (Muslim Association of Southern Indiana for Health Advancement) in 2017, to provide medical care at no cost for the uninsured.

Want to know how many people we helped in 2020 across every program, how each program made a difference, and how your support helps people survive and flourish? Click HERE. Check out past years' data to see how the numbers may have changed but the need for our Community of Caring remains the same.

This year we changed our year-end report to meet the need of having an easily shareable program brochure. We are asked almost every day if we have a program brochure. We do! Click right to read and/or download it. Printed copies available at UCS.

Other Year-End Reports and financial accountability documents like 990s can be found online HERE.

We are actively seeking new team members with both day and evening hours available. We are seeking compassionate and dedicated people who see the value in everyone and want to make a positive difference in this world. The pay rate starts at $10.25/hr. Additional responsibility and remuneration are available for the right, reliable candidate.