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This Week's City Shaper: United Way of Buffalo & Erie County CEO

This week's City Shaper is the President and CEO of the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Each week in our City Shapers segment we introduce you to someone - or a group of people - making a positive impact in Western New York.

This week, 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik shows us how the United Way is changing thousands of lives as it marks one-hundred years of service.

"I came here to go to school as a college-aged student, as an undergraduate, and I've never looked back. I love living in this community," says the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County’s President and CEO Michael Weiner.

Weiner has led the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County for the past eight years.

"What are some of the things you're the most proud of since you've been here?" asked Dudzik.

"I came in at a good time. We had a campaign that was failing over ten consecutive years. We've been able to turn that around. We've had consecutive year over year growth in our campaign over the last seven years," says Weiner.

One-hundred years ago, a group of philanthropists formed what was then called "The Joint Charities Campaign" to help families impacted by World War I.

"Under the leadership of Ansley Wilcox, there was a vision to create a one ask campaign. Instead of several different charities all asking for funds in support of families in our community, they did a one ask campaign. It was three charities essentially. They set a goal of $120,000, and it was a one-week campaign, and wouldn't you know, they came up back with $159,000 in revenues," says Weiner.

The United Way of Buffalo and Erie County's endowment has grown from $900,000 five years ago to $8.7 million. And, as the United Way moves into its second century, it will focus on tracking risk factors in our community so it can continue to help people.

"We want to help people get jobs, get better jobs, have promotional opportunities, have upscale opportunities, as well. We also want to help families who have young children who are at risk particularly when they're in financial hardship," says Weiner.

Weiner thinks the group's founding members would be proud of all of the support the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County gets from its 40-thousand donors and more than 62-hundred volunteers.

If you'd like to nominate a Buffalo business owner or not-for-profit agency to be a City Shaper in 2018, just email Kelly.

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