Volunteers assemble homeless outreach kits for Giving Tuesday

On Giving Tuesday, United Way of the Midlands partnered with Bank of Montreal employees to assemble homeless outreach kits for people in the Omaha metro.

More than 200 homeless outreach kits were assembled for New Visions Homeless Services at the United Way office in Omaha Tuesday morning.

New Visions is one of the thousands of agencies United Way works with through their help line for people with financial needs.

People can access the help line by calling 211, or reaching out through email, text or on the United Way website.

Carmen Steele, a spokesperson for the organization, said the top five needs from help line users are housing, utilities, income assistance, transportation and food insecurity.

“If people don't know where else to turn, the 211 help line is there for them, and we have a resource specialist on call 24/7, 365 days a year,” she said.

More than 275,000 contacts were made through the help line last year across Nebraska and Iowa.

Steele said donations to United Way go a long way because of its connection with thousands of other assistance programs.

“We get your donation, and then we invest it in the most impactful health and human services programs in our geographic area that are making a difference,” she said.

United Way of the Midlands works with food pantries, domestic violence shelters and public utilities services like the Metropolitan Utilities District and Omaha Public Power District.