One woman recalls the way United Way helped her family
Edie MacEachern watched her father hit her mom. Hard. Many times. Over many years.
As a child, she watched her father pin her mother to the ground, tighten his hands around her neck, and call her names. She remembers huddling in a bedroom of their home with her siblings. They had no choice but to listen helplessly.
After years of debilitating abuse, her mother turned to a United Way-funded agency for assistance. Edie says it was a decision that saved her mother’s life and changed her own.
“At one point in my life, I did not like my mother,” she says. “I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t strong enough to defend herself — strong enough to defend her own children. But watching her gather the strength and courage she needed to escape the abuse and start a new life helped me understand the woman she truly is. My mother and I have become great friends, something I never expected to happen.”
Edie used the hardships her family has endured as an example of human strength and resolve. She was a member of United Way’s Speaker’s Bureau, volunteering to share her story to help donors understand the tremendous difference their support makes.
“United Way gave me back my mother,” says Edie. “You can’t imagine how wonderful that feels. I am so proud of her and love her so much. And every day, I am so thankful that United Way funds programs that help families like mine.”
Your gift to United Way helps more people like Edie and her mother have opportunities for a better life.