By DAVID FOOTE
and JO REASONS

At United Way of Kitsap County, we believe in challenging the status quo to the way we approach fighting poverty in our community.

We believe in thinking differently and we are excited to be taking bold, progressive steps to begin to resolve the long-term impact of intergenerational poverty here in the county. And by investing in the United Way Campaign, you are becoming an integral part of this promising first step.

We appreciate your joining us in the campaign and extend a grateful thank you to all who have participated in the past. But more than ever, we need your help today.

United Way’s Fall Fund Drive is taking off with energy and enthusiasm. Partnering with the Kitsap Community Foundation, the Suquamish Tribe, and the Kitsap County Health District, together we have created Kitsap Strong. We are excited to not only be a supporting funder in Kitsap Strong, but to be a participant in this new, dynamic approach to fighting intergenerational poverty. To learn more, I encourage you view the 2015-16 United Way video at https://youtu.be/dtArubVlOh8 or visit the United Way website to learn more.

The first bold step of this partnership has been selecting 25 local non-profit organizations to participate in the new Learning Academy, an educational program designed to increase community knowledge of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and identify strategies to help our children develop the resiliency to overcome them. We invite you to learn more and be part of the process.

Adverse Childhood Experiences are potentially traumatic events that can (and often do) have a negative, lasting impact on health and well-being. These experiences hinder proper brain development in young children and include events like severe economic hardship; physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; living with violence, alcohol or drug abuse, or mental illness; physical or emotional neglect; a painful parental divorce, or loss of a parent due to death, incarceration or a military deployment to a war zone. These may occur alone or in any combination.

As the number of ACEs in a child’s life increases, so does the risk for lifetime negative health outcomes, which can be behavioral, physical or mental. Examples are obesity, chemical dependency, depression, attempted suicide or a wide variety of serious physical ailments, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or stroke that can dramatically shorten a life span.

While nearly half of our population experiences at least one ACE growing up, here in Washington 11 percent of our children are living with three or more. Educators are seeing these children in their classroom every day and the non-profit community struggles every day to try and help families survive daily life.

So how can parents, educators and social workers make a difference for children who are carrying the weight of multiple ACE’s? We can all help children individually by being dependable resources or providing a safe haven, someone a child can turn to when needed. A child’s dysfunction or lack of success should always trigger the question: “What has happened to you?” rather than “What’s wrong with you?” And a donation to United Way greatly magnifies your ability to impact the future of these children.

Your pledge expands our ability to use Kitsap Strong to educate about the negative effects of ACEs, while also funding the agencies and organizations, such as Ready for Kindergarten, that are working to help children develop the resiliency to overcome these destructive forces.

To learn more I encourage you view the 2015-16 United Way video at https://youtu.be/dtArubVlOh8 or visit the United Way website and click on GIVE.

Will you help us challenge the status quo by making a pledge today toward our goal to raise $1,250,000?

— David Foote is executive director of United Way of Kitsap County. Jo Reasons is campaign executive for United Way of Kitsap County. Email dfoote@unitedwaykitsap.org.