OUR TOWN WITH BRUCE JENNER

foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] ER if you're a football fan or married to one then you know that last year the National Football League in the United Way took you on a very special tour of America we visited 28 NFL cities through a series of special messages entitled our town we went to places like St Louis Seattle Denver Pittsburgh San Diego and Miami our tour guides were some of the brightest new stars in the National Football League hello this is George Kunz and I'd like to show you the New Baltimore hello I'm Steve barkowski and I'd like to show you my town Atlanta Georgia and I'd like to show you Chicago and I'd like to show you Cincinnati Kansas City New England Philadelphia we saw Georgia peaches and Georgia peaches we saw the ivy league in the hearty old Yankees Farmers steel workers and the beautiful ladies of California after the players showed you the sights they showed you a very special part of their Town their United ways in Pittsburgh we saw volunteers working in United Way agencies like services for the Aging here elderly people with no one to care for them get the help they need to lead good lives in Tampa Bay we visited daycare centers where parents take their children so that they can work to support the family in Washington we saw young people in agencies like the Boy Scouts and the YMCA in Atlanta it was a services for the Blind and the Cerebral Palsy Center when Kansas City showed us the Girl Scouts Goodwill Industries and the Urban League you had to start wondering who wasn't touched by United Way indeed by the time the Super Bowl rolled around many of us realized how many different people were touched by United Way some of them were old and wanted to continue to walk with dignity [Music] some of them were young and just wanted to walk some are in trouble [Music] some are growing and Exploring Life some of them sick some staying well some lonely and in need of love some who wanted to share their love some who need help so that they can work some who need work to help themselves some of them just like you who never thought they'd need help from United Way like the thousands who were stranded in Buffalo in the famous blizzard of 76. Joe delamallur showed us how The Travelers Aid in the Red Cross supported by local United Way came to the rescue we saw 37 different United Way agencies featured in the our town series but these are just a few if we can count them up in every town across America including your town we get a total of 37 000 agencies services and programs supported by local United ways they range from the large Nationwide agencies like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army too small but important new services like Baltimore's new breakfast program that makes sure that children go to school with a full stomach and this program in Cincinnati where families learn how to treat and live with the fact that one of them has cancer [Music] every town has every service we've seen but that's one of the real strengths of United Way each Town evaluates its own needs who decides what agencies are supported by local United Way the answer is volunteers citizens in your community they work on a volunteer allocation committee that carefully goes over budgets and needs maybe you're involved you could be if you wanted to it's hard work and long hours but there's a special feeling you get from being a United Way volunteer you might not have realized how much of the work in the United Way is done by volunteers people who ask for the pledges will help you decide what services are most needed and the volunteers who work in many of the United Way agencies that's what we mean when we say United Way is people helping people the guy next to you in the stands may be a United Way volunteer woman you work with maybe your neighbor they reach out to give food to give love to help a crippled child take their first all-important and sometimes painful step United Way volunteers are everyday people not Saints or idealists they're reeling there are people who are concerned about the problems in their town and are determined to do something about them as different as volunteers are they all believe that people still count in a world that seems to grow more complex with one crisis after another we can still help each other that in our town as volunteers we can do what's necessary to take care of each other the words democracy and friendship are intertwined in the meaning of United Way and maybe Brad Van Pelt came close to putting them together as he described New York New York's so big that it's hard to even begin to tell you about it I can start here with a Skyline like no other in the world but let me show you a special part of the New York scene it's the feeling you get when you're jogging in Central Park walking up Fifth Avenue riding the Subway or looking back on the city from the George Washington Bridge the feeling that here and what may be the greatest experiment of people living together there is the greatest need for human friendship [Music] Americans are on the move we change our jobs move our families and lose our friends hello I'm Mike McCoy and I'm Kia McCoy you know Green Bay has a big size football team The McCoys move this year Mike and Kia had just filmed the message about the United Way when Mike was traded to Oakland when they arrive the McCoy's found Jean Upshaw of the Raiders ready to show them the United Way in Oakland of course the United Way is not just in NFL cities there are united ways in more than 2 000 communities Across America wherever you come from wherever you may go the United Way will be there if you need it maybe Delvin Williams are the 49ers said it best young old black white no one's a stranger in part because of the volunteers in our United Way United Way makes even our biggest city a town a community because it touches everyone and helps people touch each other that's the last message of the Our Town series that it's really your talent it still belongs to each of you that it's big and it's small and it's your creation and it's a wonderful thriving working way to help people and that you make it work as volunteers and by your gift through payroll deduction and your fair share of pledges please make your fair share pledge to the United Way so that we can say thanks to you it works for all of us the United Way [Music] [Music]