What is your United Way planning on doing this Valentine’s Day to show some love to your donors and community members?

United Ways across the country are planning on showing some love this Valentine’s Day, from hosting events to sending out cards. Valentine’s Day is a great time to share how much you care for your community and to thank your donors.

United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley (Allentown, PA) is inviting their donors and community members to answer the Valentine’s question of the day on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram on February 11, 12, or 13 about their favorite part of the Lehigh Valley for a chance to a win a prize basket from United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. Their Valentine’s Day Social Media Contest engages donors and community members, while showing them they care this Valentine’s Day by giving away prize baskets.

Emerging Leaders groups at United Way Fox Cities (Menasha, WI) and United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore (Salisbury, MD) are hosting Valentine’s events for their community members. United Way Fox Cities’ Emerging Leaders are hosting their annual Valentine’s Family Festival, which is a free event for children and their families to enjoy activities like cookie decorating, carnival games, Wii games, arts and crafts, and a photo booth. They are also giving away toothbrushes and books, and providing a free lunch. United Way Fox Cities is not only promoting the event on their Web site, but they are also promoting the need for volunteers to help at the event by supervising activities, distributing goodies, and serving lunch. One of the Emerging Leaders wrote about the event and said typically about 500 kids and their parents attend this event, and thanks to a grant from Depend ® this year, each child will receive a literacy kit and will be sent home with a healthy meal to make with their family. This event connects United Way with the community by inviting them to attend or volunteer for the event.

United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore’s Emerging Leaders are hosting their annual Valentine’s Day Carnival , which is a free event for local children and their families that encourages literacy, wellness, and family fun, such as: carnival games, face painting, book giveaways, a dance party, snacks, crafts, and surprise guests. This is another great example of an event that connects United Way with community members.

United Way of Wayne and Holmes Counties (Wooster, OH) sent Valentine’s Day cards to donors last year, thanking them for helping others. The front of the card included a picture drawn by a student in the community and the inside of the card included information about the impact of donors’ contributions, such as: 51 adults earned their GEDs and 2,126 individuals had access to mental health counseling. They are thanking donors and communicating results about how donors’ contributions are making a difference in the community.

United Way of Greater Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI) also gave out Valentine’s Day cards – however, their cards had a different message and were handed out to local teens, as part of their teen pregnancy prevention campaign. Their “Baby, You’re the One” campaign used bus shelter and radio ads, in addition to the Valentine’s Day cards, to show how boys might seduce and mislead their girlfriends. Hundreds of Valentines were distributed to high school students at bus stops before and after school to get teens to think about the position they will be in if they get pregnant. Their Valentines communicate about a specific issue and connect that issue to United Way.

We invite your United Way to think about how you can show some love to your donors and community members in a creative way this Valentine’s Day, just as other United Ways are doing.