United Way: Let’s look for ways to connect with others during the holidays – and beyond
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- Reaching out to others during the upcoming holidays can help bring a community together.
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- Helping one person feel less isolated has an impact on the entire community.
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- Bill Hulterstrom, president and CEO of United Way of Utah County.
Here in Utah County, the leaves have started changing and there’s a sense of fall in the air despite the warm weather we’ve had this month. This is always a wonderful time of year, not least since autumn marks the start of some of our favorite holiday seasons. From Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas and the new year, these next few months offer us so many opportunities to celebrate and come together with our loved ones.
These coming months also mark some of the busiest months of the year for United Way of Utah County and other community organizations as we work to connect people with the resources they need. While it is always encouraging over these next weeks to see how our community’s generosity helps so many, I believe we can do more. I believe we can each find ways to connect with new people, expand our giving beyond the holiday season and start building relationships that will last for the long term.
One of the most concerning trends we have seen in our community and our country over the past several years is a tendency toward isolation and disconnection. What the U.S. surgeon general has referred to as an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation” does not just impact our youth, although isolation among youth is a significant problem. Isolation can impact any of us, particularly those who do not feel welcomed in their homes or communities.
Recently, New York Times columnist David French discussed this issue at a forum at Brigham Young University. He explained that the results of isolation are truly alarming: increased risk of despair and self-destructive behavior, increased risk of radicalization and increased risk of economic stagnation. The personal and communitywide consequences of isolation can be severe.
So, what can we do to address this trend? How can we help everyone in our community, from our youth to our seniors and everyone in between, feel connected? French argues that the best thing we can do is “extend yourself personally to another human being; become a friend (and) love another human being, to love your neighbor and allow others to feel a sense of belonging.”
It seems simple to extend friendship to a new neighbor, co-worker or classmate, but it takes courage. It can be difficult or intimidating to take time to meet someone new, especially when life already feels filled to the brim with commitments. But doing so can literally save lives.
I have seen how these types of connections can heal isolation. I’ve witnessed communities coming together to build these bonds thanks to the courage of just a few individuals. We are fortunate to live in a community where there are so many people who are already reaching out in friendship, and I believe each of us can do something to reach out in our own lives.
United Way and its partners are working together to tackle these issues, and we invite you to find ways to participate as well. There’s no better time to start than during the holiday season. As you prepare for trick-or-treaters, or plan your Thanksgiving dinner recipes or think about starting a fun Christmas tradition for your family, I urge you to take time to think about how you can include a new friend in your festivities. Is there a child in your kid’s class who could use some friends to go trick-or-treating with? Is there a neighbor on your street who doesn’t have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving? Is there someone you know who struggles to feel loved during the holidays? Please invite them to celebrate with you and see what happens!
This holiday season, let’s all take part in this small experiment. Let’s each invite just one new friend to participate in one of our holiday traditions. Let’s see how that one small act can enrich our own celebrations and how it impacts the way our community feels. And if it feels good — and I guarantee it will — let’s each look for ways we can do the same after the holidays. These small steps will have an enormous impact on us, our families and our neighborhoods. We can do it together.
For more information about how you can get involved in your community, please visit unitedwayuc.org.
