Hello Neighbors,
When my wife Maria and I moved to Addison County in 2013, we wholeheartedly adopted our new home and the life that came with it. As part of the new "remote workforce", we opted for 
quality of life over proximity to an office as part of our new and growing focus on community first. We both dove into community life in our own way, our goals being, in part, to seek a broader connection with members of our new community and, in part, to encourage each other to invest more in community service.
Of course, we invested in the community in other ways as well, be it in the form of direct investments through donations, time investments in the social fabric of the community such as theater, and patronage investments by consciously transitioning the bulk of our spending to local shops, venues, and companies. This conscious focus on community investment has become part of our overall investment strategy for retirement, as we plan to live out our lives in Addison County. And it underlies my interest and commitment in serving on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Addison County.
My personal philosophy is that when it comes to donating to community non-profits, it's not just about feeling good about the donation or the social capital of your donation that matters; it’s about the impact. We should seek more to "do good" than to "feel good". Ultimately, the “Return on Community Investment” you earn has solid benefits that can be measured by things such as quality of life (personal and of others), community capacity (to absorb risk, provide for continuity of life, support need in various forms), social equity and inclusion, and some sort of financial multiplier for your dollars (i.e., the local impact of investments in UWAC).
I thank each of you for your investment in our community through your generosity to UWAC. You are an integral part of our mission to improve lives and strengthen Addison County. I look forward to working with you all and the UWAC team to help make your investments count every day.
Ken Stockman
UWAC Board President
