If you take a look around Gallia County, you’ll see many pressing needs.

From kids who aren’t getting three square meals a day to senior citizens worrying about having to decide between paying this month’s electric bill or buying groceries. And then there’s the family across the street, down on their luck since dad lost his job and mom’s boss cut back on her hours.

What about the woman you work with who’s desperate to escape an abusive relationship, yet trapped by her own fear? Or the young man next door who’s battling the demons of mental illness or drug and alcohol addiction.

Without a doubt, there are many pressing needs in Gallia County.

There are also several agencies in our county that have been designed to meet some of the needs that many of our family, friends and neighbors are facing daily. United Way of Gallia County partners with some of these agencies to provide services and funding so that these organizations can offer vital assistance where it’s needed.

United Way supports the following agencies and organizations in Gallia County: Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Red Cross, Holzer Hospice, Gallia County Senior Resource Center, Outreach Center, Family Addiction Community Treatment Services (FACTS), Woodland Centers, Gallia-Meigs Community Action Agency, Serenity House, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and Children’s Center of Ohio. Each one of these groups provides important services and support to various segments of our local population; help that in some cases isn’t available through other sources.

As you well know, it takes money and manpower — and woman-power — to keep these programs operating. United Way coordinates the investment of financial and volunteer resources to benefit all of the aforementioned organizations as they seek to meet the community’s health and human service needs.

Financial gifts to United Way of Gallia County stay in the county and are used in a tangible way to help those who need assistance at crucial points in their lives.

So those of us who have the means also have the responsibility to lend a helping hand, a cup of cold water or a word of encouragement to those who are less fortunate.

Now that you know the need, will you be part of the solution?

(On the Web: United Way of Gallia County, www.unitedwaygallia.org)