United Way of the Wine Country

04/29/2026

In this week’s episode of We’re the Leaders We’re Looking For, we are honored to share a powerful conversation with Charlie Toledo, Executive Director of the Suscol Intertribal Council.

In our conversation, Charlie reflects on the vital importance of showing up every day—for ourselves and for one another—and of always speaking the truth, first to ourselves and then to the people closest to us. She names this practice as essential to our commitments to racial, social, gender, economic, and environmental justice—and also as one of the hardest things we are asked to do. Truth-telling, she reminds us, is not abstract or theoretical; it begins in relationship, in accountability, and in love.

Available at https://www.unitedwaywinecountry.org/podcast or on your favorite podcast platform.

03/19/2026

Huge THANK YOU to Redwood Credit Union for funding our Earn it! Keep it! Save it! Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program! Our volunteers are so grateful for your support, and we have been happy to give RCU a shoutout wherever and whenever we can!

02/24/2026

Dial 2-1-1 to make a FREE tax appointment with UWWC's Earn it! Keep it! Save it! FREE tax assistance program!

Visit our website for what to bring and more information! https://www.unitedwaywinecountry.org/

01/26/2026

Sincere thanks to Congressman Mike Thompson for sharing this with his local constituents!

01/20/2026

United Way of the Wine Country is looking for neighbors who believe in lifting each other up!

Every tax season, United Way’s Earn It! Keep It! $ave It! program brings hope to thousands of local families by helping them claim the refunds they’ve worked so hard for. With the support of trained volunteers, more than $120 million has been returned to our community over the past decade — money that helps pay rent, buy groceries, cover childcare, and build a more secure future.

In fact, in 2025, we helped over 6,000 neighbors secure more than $13 million in tax refunds, credits, and preparation savings. This impact doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because caring people step forward.

If you value economic security, dignity, and community, we’d love to have you join us as an EKS volunteer. No experience is needed — just a willingness to learn and a heart for service. Your time can change someone’s year… and sometimes their life. Be part of something that truly matters.

Click here to volunteer: https://www.unitedwaywinecountry.org/eks-free-tax-help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHGz1s6fb_M&t=4s

United Way of the Wine Country’s free tax support has returned over $90M in refunds to local families. Learn how you can benefit from this program!

12/24/2025

11/18/2025

United Way of the Wine Country Featured on NPR’s “The 707” - Every four minutes, someone in our region reaches out for help. Housing, food, income support, medical care—the needs are surging, and 211 Sonoma is here to respond.

I had the privilege of joining KRCB’s The 707 podcast to talk about how United Way of the Wine Country and 211 Sonoma are working to connect thousands of residents to critical resources and build resilience across our community. Listen now and dial 2-1-1 or explore 211sonoma.org if you or someone you know needs secure, confidential help, 24/7.

10/21/2025

Episode 3: Leading with Heart and the Wealth of Resilience with Laurie Fong is now available.

https://www.unitedwaywinecountry.org/podcast

In this powerful conversation, host Lisa Carreño sits down with community leader Laurie Fong to explore what it means to lead from the heart-mind rather than the head-mind. Laurie shares a deeply moving perspective on generational wealth, redefining it not in financial terms, but as the priceless inheritance of emotional stability, fortitude, grit, and resilience passed down by her immigrant grandparents and elders.

10/03/2025

Welcome to We’re the Leaders We’re Looking For—a podcast from United Way of the Wine Country. Here, we share the voices of neighbors, changemakers, and everyday leaders who are building a region rooted in belonging, resilience, and justice. In a time of disconnection and division, this podcast is a call to action—and a call to belonging. It invites listeners to see themselves as part of a collective movement to transform our region, not through heroics, but through everyday acts of leadership, care, and kindness.

https://www.unitedwaywinecountry.org/podcast

06/16/2025

In the Wine Country region, the beauty of our agricultural, coastal, and wildlands masks a growing crisis in our social safety net. This powerful op-ed highlights the urgent need for collective action to support our most vulnerable neighbors. particularly those who really on SNAP (aka Food Stamps), Medicaid (aka Medi-Cal), and the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit to make ends meet. At United Way of the Wine Country, we remain committed to strengthening the systems that help working individuals and families thrive. Read more about the challenges and risks presented by the pending federal budget plan—and the call to action—facing our community.

We need a budget that reflects our values — not one that punishes those who hold our communities together.

06/02/2025

Santa Rosa Fire Department has declared today the official start of this year’s wildfire season. For resources visit www.unitedwaywinecountry.org/211-community-resources

https://www.srcity.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2987