Help Ensure MCUM’s Future

When was the last time you updated your will or trust? Did you know that making a charitable donation through your estate plan can result in significant tax savings?

A gift through your estate plan, regardless of size, can make a significant difference to Monroe County United Ministries. You can provide quality childcare for low-income families and ensure local households in crisis have their basic needs met. You can also increase the size of MCUM’s endowment, helping to ensure that services to our vulnerable neighbors will continue for as long as they are needed.

There are many, many ways to make a charitable gift through your estate plan. Contact your attorney or financial planner to determine how best to structure your plan to benefit your loved ones and the community. For more information about how giving through your estate plan can make a difference for your loved ones, MCUM, and the community, visit our website.

From Homelessness to Stability

Sally is a long-time Bloomington resident who had been going through a difficult time. A messy divorce created stress and expense. A drug felony from long ago meant that she is not eligible for food stamps. Unemployment resulted in instability. After six months of homelessness, Sally found a full-time job at a chain restaurant, earning $8.00 an hour, which allowed her to meet her basic needs. However, she was having trouble finding housing because she couldn’t afford the deposit and the first month’s rent all at once. These challenges were compounded by a recent illness that caused her to miss four days of work.

Sally approached MCUM’s Emergency Services Program for assistance. Her township trustee had pledged to help with a portion of her first month’s rent and MCUM was able to pay the balance. We also provided food, cleaning supplies, and hygiene items to help ease her financial burden. Sally paid her own security deposit and moved into her new home. With a GED and a year of college education, stable housing, and a full-time job, Sally’s prospects for self-sufficiency in the future are excellent. Without financial, food, and other forms of support from the community, we would not be able to help people like Sally to get back on their feet.

Education for Educators

Staff education and training are some of the most important elements in a quality early childhood program. Under MCUM’s accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, our Childcare Program staff must meet these basic requirements:

• All teachers have a minimum of a Child Development Associate (CDA) or equivalent.
• At least 50 percent of teachers have a minimum of an associate’s degree or equivalent.
• At least 25 percent of teachers have a minimum of a baccalaureate degree or equivalent.
• All must have or be enrolled in an associate’s or baccalaureate degree program.

These requirements will become more stringent with each renewal of our accreditation but we will not have a problem keeping up. Of our four teachers, two have baccalaureate degrees and the other two are working on baccalaureate degrees. Of MCUM’s four classroom aides, who are not required to meet any specific education requirements by NAEYC, three have completed associate’s degree and one is working on an associate’s. We are proud to have a staff dedicated to continuing their education and providing the best possible program for the families we serve.

MCUM’s March 2013 in Review

MCUM’s February 2013 in Review

MCUM’s January 2013 In Review

Paul Crafton: A Leader Remembered

When Paul Crafton started as the director of this organization in 1967, it was known as The Christian Center. Soon it became Monroe County Ecumenical Ministries and it would become Monroe County United Ministries before his departure in 1973.

When Paul and Sue Crafton moved to Bloomington, Paul was only 30 years old but had  already spent years helping people in poverty at the West Side Christian Parish of Chicago and the East Side Christian Center of Indianapolis. He had graduated from Indianapolis’ Arsenal Tech in 1954, Indiana Central College in 1958, and received his bachelor of divinity degree from the University of Chicago in 1962. Paul was our director during a time of great growth and change for this organization and was involved in reinstituting a day care program after more than a decade of closure, establishing The Dugout and The Boxcar (off-site recreational units), founding Opportunity House, and galvanizing the community around issues of poverty. His name and photo regularly appeared in local papers, including the series of photos above from The Bloomington Tribune on February 9, 1967.

Paul passed away in Nutley Park, New Jersey in December 2012 after a lifetime of service.