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(cheerful upbeat music)

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(moves into soft piano music)

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<v ->I'm lucky to get to work with Andy.</v>

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He is a amazing individual.

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Andy's story is one of great motivation to me.

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He came from Vietnam with really nothing.

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<v ->1982, living seven people all together.</v>

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My mom and dad, myself, my sister,

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and two aunt, and a uncle

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live in this tiny little apartment,

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but we thought we got it made.

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Mom and dad trying to find job.

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They don't speak one word of English.

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So we end up picking berries just to make ends meet.

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(optimistic music)

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I know that United Way was helping my family.

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I remember I was a fifth grader,

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came home from school, and I saw this bag,

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two bags of food.

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And inside there I looked and I saw this package.

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I have never seen this before.

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It was waffle.

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My mom said at dinner, "We got this from United Way.

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"They gave us some food because we look like we need it."

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I taste waffle for the first time in my life.

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Do you know how amazing that taste?

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(energetic piano music)

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Nine years ago I was able to have

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the greatest opportunity of my life.

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I was chosen

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to be part of United Way campaign.

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At that moment in time I saw a symbol,

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and I like oh my goodness,

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what, why that symbol look so familiar to me?

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It turn out to be that it was

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when I was nine years old that bags of food.

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When I saw that symbol for United Way,

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I like this is my opportunity to repay.

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I was like, I'm looking around and I see

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that United Way helping millions of people

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and guess what, I'm part of that.

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I'm part of something so big.

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There's so many people out there like myself,

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like my family that need help,

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and some of 'em might be life and death,

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where they don't never make it.

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<v Nick>You don't know what your neighbor's gone through</v>

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or what a customer that you've walked into their home

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what they're going through,

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and so many people out there that have been touched

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by the United Way and helped by the United Way.

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<v ->There is a lot of family out there that need help,</v>

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not only myself as refugee,

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but so much family here, American family.

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If you can just give a little that goes a long way.

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If you can give a lot that's even better.

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So why not?

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Because you have that choice.

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You have that choice to help other.

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(upbeat cheerful music)

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<v ->Well, I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity</v>

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to work for NBC for 26 years.

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I never thought, never would've dreamed it,

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never would have imagined

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that someone like me would have a career like this.

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It has been a lifelong mission for me to give

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because of what I received when I was growing up.

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(soft somber music)

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From Riviera Beach.

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I'm the youngest of five.

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My mom worked hard for this house

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and put everything in it so that we could have

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a roof over our heads.

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I think my mom's work ethic

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passed down to each of us.

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<v ->Look at mom on that one.</v>

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<v ->No one else in my family</v>

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had graduated from college,

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and so I really didn't have a dream of college.

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(enthusiastic music)

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Because of the United Way,

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the community I call home is booming and growing

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because of programs like the Boys and Girls Club

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in Riviera Beach.

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<v ->Yvette played basketball for me.</v>

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She worked during the summer,

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and she's always been a very very strong individual.

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She has a heart of gold.

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But one of the things we always talked about was

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make sure that you give back.

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<v ->As the leader of the Boys and Girls Club,</v>

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Gary McKinon is a guy who sees the potential

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in every person he meets.

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When I came of age I had an opportunity to be a counselor.

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I learned how to discipline,

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how to motivate, how to encourage,

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and how to keep an eye on 32 kids,

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so I was pretty well equipped for corporate life.

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(laughs)

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Being in part of these programs,

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reading became not just an assignment,

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I learned to read to discover.

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And I started reading,

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and it just opened up my mind

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into other things and possibilities.

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And that sort of led me to the University of Florida,

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Palm Beach Post.

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Eventually, in 1991 I started with NBCU.

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(upbeat cheerful music)

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Those programs give you an opportunity

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to see beyond your block,

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and it's so easy to think that there isn't life

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outside of Riviera Beach,

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or the opportunities are limited by only what you see.

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I think, in the long run,

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giving to worthwhile programs makes the community

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you live in better.

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Communities of color sometimes bear the burden

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of being identified as at-risk communities,

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when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

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These programs are for everyone.

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I am very much a product of my community.

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I'm successful because there are the Gary McKinon's

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in the world who said, "Come here, let me show you this.

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"Let me make you better at this."

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<v ->Without donations from United Way,</v>

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we would not be able to impact our community

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the way that we do.

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<v ->I give to the United Way because it matters.</v>

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I see the results of what money does

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in my community.

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And United Way helped me along the way,

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now it's time for me to help others.

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(enthusiastic pop music)

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<v ->My name is Beth Baker.</v>

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I have been at Comcast for about three and a half years.

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I am a manager of indirect retail.

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When I was nine or 10,

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my mother called social services to ask for help

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because I was home alone with my sister.

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And really the mantra was when in doubt, take them out.

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So they came out and did a home visit,

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and instead of helping my mom,

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they just took us out of the home.

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They, we went through a series of foster homes,

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some good, some bad.

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The most difficult aspect of living in a foster home,

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for me, was not knowing day-to-day whether I'd be

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in that home the next day,

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not knowing if what I did was good enough

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to earn me a bed for the next day.

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Finally, I found a good foster home

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that I stayed at for several years,

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and then I aged out of the system at 17.

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I had no place to go.

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You're ashamed, you're embarrassed,

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and you're hungry.

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And I was a kid, I cried a lot.

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I remember I needed to take a shower,

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so I walked into a Boys and Girls Club.

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There happened to be that day

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somebody from United Way doing a site visit.

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She asked me a few questions,

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and I told her a little bit about my situation,

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and she told me where the YMCA was.

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I was able to go over there and take a shower.

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She gave me her phone number.

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I remember calling her at the United Way,

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just saying, "Here, I'm still in this situation,

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"I don't know what to do."

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And I can't believe nobody else did this for me,

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she told me where there was resources.

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She said, "You can go apply for state aid.

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"There's welfare, there's Medicaid

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"for you to get health insurance."

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She told me where the offices were,

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and that really turned my life around.

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When I moved to New Hampshire

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I knew my life was stable.

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I was gonna get married and have a family,

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and I wanted to give back to my community.

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I don't remember how I heard about CASA,

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but I heard about it that they are advocates

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for children in foster homes.

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And then it was a light bulb.

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I said, "I've got to do this.

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"This is what I wish I had."

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<v ->CASA is a non-profit organization</v>

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and we recruit, and we train, and we supervise volunteers

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to serve as guardian ad litems in the court system

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within the state of New Hampshire.

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And their job is to help marshal the kids

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through this process.

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If you have somebody like Beth,

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who has been through at least part of that process,

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I think that certainly is an added advantage

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who better understands, perhaps,

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what these kids are going through

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and the fears that they might have.

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<v ->And I had to tell the judge what's best for these kids.</v>

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It was up to me to say what's best for these kids.

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Having my background

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and I made really good decisions for these kids.

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<v ->Our goal is to be able to serve 100%</v>

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of the kids that are going through the system

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that need guardians.

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And that, of course, takes time, effort,

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and it takes money.

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<v ->If the United Way doesn't exist,</v>

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people like me don't exist.

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I give because United Way impacted my life

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and changed my life when I was a young girl,

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and it impacts thousands of lives

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in thousands of communities.

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I give to the United Way because they helped me.

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I give because I have, and I can, and I do,

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and it matters to me,

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and I hope it matters to everybody.

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(upbeat cheerful music)