Ep.# 138: Molly Williams, United Way of Lee County

We sit down with Molly Williams from United Way of Lee County to break down how local fundraising supports 29 community nonprofits and helps meet urgent needs across East Alabama. 

We also clear up where donations actually go, share a personal story about learning to pivot, and highlight a powerful free-book program for young kids in Lee County.

• How United Way of Lee County brings resources together to strengthen the community 
• How fundraising supports 29 local nonprofit partners 
• Misconceptions about donations and how fees work 
• How allocation funding differs from one-time grant funding 
• Molly’s nonprofit career path after graduating in 2020 
• A personal turning point about transferring schools and growing through change 
• United Way’s local role in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library for ages 0 to 5 
• Best ways to follow, volunteer, and learn more through social media and the website 
www.unitedwayofleecounty.com

Transcript

Welcome To The Show;

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Suzanne Hodges.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome. And with me is Molly Williams. She is with the United Way of Lee County. Welcome, Molly.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be

How United Way Serves Lee County;

SPEAKER_02 0:22

here.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

So tell me about the United Way of Lee County. What do you guys do for the area in terms of all of the nonprofits that you support?

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Yeah, so we try to bring organizations and resources together to meet urgent needs here in our community, as well as support local nonprofits and just try to strengthen our East Alabama community. That we do that through mainly fundraising, which is what we're doing right now through our campaign. And we raise those funds to be able to support a lot of different local nonprofit organizations. We currently fund 29 different ones, which is huge. We're very excited about that number. So that just allows us to spread our reach as far as we can get it. That's what we want to do because we believe Lee County is great, but we also know that there are people in need in Lee County. And so we want to make sure that the need is there when people need it the most.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Well, that sounds good. I know the United Way of Lee County has been around for a long

Molly’s Path Into Nonprofits;

SPEAKER_00 1:23

time. Tell me a little bit about your journey into the nonprofit arena. How did you get into the United Way?

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Yeah, so it actually all started back. I graduated from Auburn University at Montgomery and with my degree in communications, didn't know what I wanted to do when I graduated. I graduated in 2020. So you can imagine that that was an exciting time to try to find a job as well. And so I ended up working, getting a job for a nonprofit, the Alabama Sheriff's Youth Ranches. And that is how I got into the nonprofit world and absolutely loved it. And so then got married, moved off to Georgia for two years. And then me and my husband two years ago now moved to Auburn. And so when I started looking for a job, I had several people helping me and asking me, like, what do you want to do? And when I got down to it, I just wanted to help people. I know that's a very broad thing to say, is I just want to help people that can mean a variety of different things. And I had somebody reach out to me and was like, hey, I think you would be really good at this job. The United Way is looking for their marketing specialist. So I said, hey, let's let's see what happens. I applied and interviewed, and I've been there for over a year and a half now, and I've loved every minute of it.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

That sounds awesome. Um, absolutely a good opportunity to help people through the United Way. Well, you've been with them for

Clearing Up Donation Myths;

SPEAKER_00 2:49

a year and a half now. I'm sure you've come across some misconceptions people have about the United Way. So, was there any you'd like to clear up?

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yeah, absolutely. We we do get those all the time. And and one of the biggest things that we get is that um people think that their money doesn't actually stay in Lee County if they give. And and that is just not true. So we recently did some research and some math internally, and I will go ahead and say we do have to pay fees to worldwide, United Way Worldwide. That's how we get our branding, that's how we get to use the name, that's how we get partnerships like with publics that are really important to us. So we do have to pay those fees, but we did the math recently and realized that we have a wonderful board of directors and all of them pretty much give. And based on what they give to us, they cover those fees for the year.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Oh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Everything else that is given to us, so anybody else who gives who's not a part of our board of directors, their money stays in Lee County. And it doesn't go to any random nonprofit. Every organization that is listed on our website as a community partner, that's where the money goes. Uh, we have some that are considered allocation funded, which means that they are funded every single year by us. And then we have grant funded ones, which do change from year to year. They just get a one-time grant for the year. So that can obviously change, but they are still Lee County nonprofits. It doesn't go to any other organization besides the ones that we we list on our website or that a community uh committee of community members decide on through the mini-grant process. So the money does 100% stay here. Our board is wonderful, and based on what they give, they cover our fees for worldwide.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

That sounds really good.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Yeah.

Life Outside Work And Hobbies;

SPEAKER_00 4:37

So, what do you do for fun when you're not helping nonprofits?

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Well, I am very much a home body. I will say that I like to be at home. Um, currently actually at home doing this right now. And I when I'm at home, I like to read. I love cozy mysteries. That's kind of one of my favorite things to read. I love watching older like reruns. I'm a big rerun fan of just about anything, but I love older sitcoms um in particularly love those. And I have also just recently taught myself to crochet. So have been working on my first big project. So that's what I'm gonna be working on this weekend is trying to get this project done, hopefully.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Yes.

Hardship, Growth, And Learning To Pivot;

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Well, um, part of the reason that I do this podcast is encourage people, encourage people to follow their uh dreams or like you did, you wanted to help people kind of follow that into their careers, whether it's entrepreneurship or working for a company, but there's always obstacles that kind of get in the way. What are some of those hardships that you overcame either as a person or maybe you've overcome in the United Way that has helped make the United Way stronger, or you as a person stronger?

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah, um, so I have definitely several different ones. You know, we we all have hardships that we go through, unfortunately, but it it does, as you said, make us stronger. Um, and the one that I kind of landed on when I was thinking through this was I, when I first got out of high school, I went to a big university. Um, I was a big fan, my sister was there, I thought it was gonna be great. Um, and I got there, and as I said earlier, I'm a homebody. And so I kind of realized that it was a big struggle for me and had a really just tough time while I was there, and then made the decision to transfer to AUM. And that one number one was a great decision. But I remember uh at one time I had a friend from high school that I was still pretty close with, and I didn't want to tell her that I was transferring. I don't know why, but I was just really nervous to tell her, and and then I did, and she said to me, She said, Molly, do you realize how much you've grown just because you've been through what you've been through of struggling for your first semester of college, and to also just admit that number one, you're wrong, uh, you didn't make the right decision, and two, the strength to say, I'm gonna try something new. And that has always just really stuck with me of like, yeah, we're gonna make mistakes, we're gonna make decisions and think I know it's best, and sometimes it's not. But at the end of the day, if as long as we're able to admit those mistakes, work through them, learn through them, that's what makes us stronger, that's what makes us a better person. And so that's something that even after it's been almost 10 years now since that has happened, um, I still keep that close to my heart of just her telling me, do you realize how much you've grown and how much strength that has taken you to admit, hey, I need to make a change and I was wrong?

SPEAKER_00 7:52

And you know, your willingness to pivot. I think that's always important for people to realize that um if you're going along a path and it's just not working out, it's okay to pivot and do something different. And uh so I love that story. Thank you so much.

Dolly Parton Imagination Library In Lee County;

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Well, what is one thing you wish people knew about the United Way of Lee County that they may not realize?

SPEAKER_02 8:13

So this one is actually like very dear to my heart. One thing people don't realize is that we are actually over the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program for Lee County. Um, so a few things with that. Number one, if you don't know what that is, that is a free book program for children ages zero to five. And it is, like I said, it's free. Just people have to just register. It doesn't matter your income or anything like that. It just for us, it matters if you live in Lee County because we only cover that. Now we are not the ones that ship the books. That is from the Dollywood Foundation up in Tennessee. Some people think that we're the ones physically sending the books. We're not, but we are the ones who accept all the registrations and we actually pay for the program in Lee County. So we're we're the reason it is free for Lee County. We cover that cost for these children to get these books, and we are inching very close. We're not there yet, but we're getting pretty close to 3,000 kids in the program here in Lee County. So it's a great thing. People love the program and they half the time don't realize that we're the ones accepting all the registrations, taking on the cost and making sure it's available for Lee County.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Oh, that sounds wonderful. I've heard of that program, and it truly is a real gift to the community.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Yes, we

How To Volunteer, Give, And Connect;

SPEAKER_02 9:35

love it.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

How can people learn more about the United Way of Lee County? Whether they want to volunteer or they want to give, what are how how should they get in touch?

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Yeah, there's multiple ways that um people can get in touch. I always encourage people to follow us on Facebook or social media, probably because that's my job. I'm the marketing specialist, so I'm over those. But I try really hard to keep those up to date. So those are the platforms where things will come out immediately when we are doing anything. Um, so that is one of the best ways is to go ahead and follow us on social media. You can absolutely go to our website, which is www.unitedway county.com. Um, I also am in charge of that. So I try to keep that up to date. It's got all of our community partners, as I mentioned earlier, so you can see what those are and who they are. It has our team members, it has our board members, it has everything you would need to know about campaign and beyond. There is a whole campaign tab um right there that you can look at and anything that we do throughout the year, like coat drives, day of caring, all of that's on our website. Um, and people are also very welcome to reach out to me via email. Um, my email is marketing at unitedway of Lee County.com. No, it's kind of long, but it's pretty easy to remember since we are United Way of Lee County.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Absolutely. Well, I appreciate you uh spending some time with me. I've enjoyed learning about you and about the United Way of Lee County.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun.

Nominate A Local Business

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Auburn. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpauburn.com. That's gnpauburn.com. Or call three three four four two nine seven four zero.