United Way of Martin County

June 21 -- the longest day of the year -- was chosen as a day for United Ways across the country to shine a light on all the good things we do in our communities.

United Way is focusing its work under one, overarching theme: Advancing the Common Good. The call to action is for people to Live United: to give, advocate and volunteer to make lasting changes in the community, with a focus on education, income and health.

Each local United Way could decide what it wanted to do for the Day of Action.

Here in Martin County, we took advantage of an opportunity to use Flagler Park as the venue and crafted a lineup of entertaining and educational events.

The Day of Action kicked off with the singing of the national anthem by Lindsey Olson.

Then, the recently crowned Mrs. Florida, Lindsey Berman introduced the event, and the festivities began.

Day of Action activities included:

A skit titled "Share Your Treasures" -- depicting the CHARACTER COUNTS! pillar of sharing -- was performed by three members of the Martin County High School Drama Club.

United Way of Martin County offered coloring activities for young children. Participants could enter a drawing for three backpacks full of food, provided by the Treasure Coast Food Bank. (Winners were James Beard, Cadence Hart and Sarah Anson.)

See scans of the coloring pages! >>

Martin Volunteers had a booth that offered volunteer opportunities for people of all ages.

Groups of dancers and rappers performed from Who Got Game and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Martin County.

Who Got Game conducted a health expo that included local vendors and agencies

Who Got Game also coordinated a 3-on-3 basketball tourney.

The Day of Action’s partnership with Who Got Game came about because the nonprofit organization – which is focused on combating childhood obesity – had been planning a bike-a-thon and health expo for the same day. Because of the health and education emphasis of our event and theirs, it seemed natural to partner and bring our events and audiences together! For more information about Who Got Game, visit www.whogotgameonline.com.

United Way’s work is focused on the building blocks for a good life: Quality education that leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, and good health.

United Way’s goal is to advance the common good and create long-lasting changes by addressing the underlying causes of problems.

Advancing the common good is less about helping one person at a time and more about changing systems to help all of us. We are all connected. We all win when a child succeeds in school, when families are financially stable, when people are healthy.

We encourage all people in the community to live the United Way. Living united means being a part of the change. It takes everyone in the community working together to create a brighter future.