From offering a hand up to building tomorrow's leaders, United Way of Baldwin County creates lasting change in our community.

As a community, we are all connected. We all benefit when children succeed in school, when families prosper and when people are healthy. LIVING UNITED is about creating lasting changes by focusing on these building blocks of life.

All contributions to United Way of Baldwin County remain local, making your donation a true investment in our neighborhood. It takes everyone working together to create a brighter future. Inspiration comes from individuals like Gulf Shores High School sophomore Amy Johnson – a rising star who, as a Peer Helper, is mentoring other teens.

From Adversity Comes Opportunity
Transitioning to high school can give the most well adjusted student the jitters. But imagine beginning ninth grade after leaving friends and family, trading snow for sand, moving 2,000 miles away, and arriving in a town just four days after it was stunned by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest man-made disaster in history. That’s what Amy, her parents and two younger brothers did in April 2010, moving from Heber City, Utah to Gulf Shores where her father accepted a job in hospitality management for a local real estate company. It was the tail end of Amy’s eighth-grade year and the move rocked her world.

“It was a lot to take in,” she recalled of her first summer in Alabama. “Everybody in the community was stressed, the economy was already bad, we were worried about my dad’s job and we probably didn’t get a first impression that was normal.”

Amy’s mother Jane Johnson agreed the move was a huge challenge for her family, “We left everything the kids knew. When we got here, we thought, are we going to have to move back without a job, will I be able to find a job and how will the community survive?”

For Amy, the saying, “out of adversity comes opportunity” rings true. Once enrolled in Gulf Shores High School, Amy’s teachers recognized her ability to handle her situation with maturity, enthusiasm and insight. They recommended her as the youngest participant in the school’s Peer Helper/Leader program run by the nonprofit Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation, a United Way of Baldwin County agency.

According to Ashley Jones, Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation Executive Director, teens with issues will generally seek out peers before parents. “Parents are usually fifth on the list of individuals teens contact when they’re in trouble,” Jones said. Mindful of that statistic, the Peer Helper/Leader program teaches teens to mentor their peers on a variety of issues including self esteem, general stress, sexual abstinence, alcohol/drug use, parental divorce, weight issues, suicide and grief. At the high school level, students are recommended by teachers and apply for the program which is taught as an elective course of study with text books and set curriculum.

For Amy Johnson, the Peer Helper class offered an opportunity to connect with other students and make friends during an uncomfortable time in her life. “Often, teens push away teachers’ efforts to include them in activities, but it was easy to see that Amy was eager to get involved,” said Gulf Shores High School and Peer Helper teacher Amy McKenzie. She pointed out, because of the recent move and uncertainty of her father’s job, Amy Johnson was able to empathize with her fellow students. “Everyone really felt the crunch from the oil spill. With the Peer Helper curriculum, we taught teens not to be embarrassed if their family was struggling and they had to help out or make sacrifices,” McKenzie said.

The Peer Helper program provided Amy a lifeline, allowing her to fit in to her new surroundings. But the real winners from her experience are her fellow students, “We learned how to listen and communicate so the person you are talking to knows you are there for them and that you care,” she said. This program teaches skills that will be useful throughout our whole lives.”

LIVE UNITED